


Paint

by Alifredson



Category: Mighty Morphin Power Rangers, Power Rangers, Power Rangers Dino Thunder
Genre: Chance Meetings, F/M, Fix-It, Post-Dino Thunder, Second Chances, The Letter was a Lie
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-01-27
Updated: 2021-01-20
Packaged: 2021-02-27 15:21:57
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 9
Words: 59,104
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22429303
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Alifredson/pseuds/Alifredson
Summary: With Mesogog defeated, no more monsters to fight, and the school year over, Tommy finally has time to make the house he bought his own. A chance meeting with Kim when he goes to pick up supplies offers him the chance to reconnect and finally find out what went wrong.
Relationships: Billy Cranston/Katherine Hillard, Jason Lee Scott/Trini, Kimberly Hart/Tommy Oliver
Comments: 33
Kudos: 66





	1. Deep Emerald Green

**Author's Note:**

> When I started this story, it was supposed to be another one-shot. About 5k words in, I realized there was absolutely no way that was going to happen. I'd say that I'm sorry, but I'm not.

Tommy Oliver had felt the impending doom in the pit of his stomach that could only ever mean the Power was gathering strength to fight another Big Bad. He’d felt it well before he’d even heard of the internship with Anton Mercer and he’d started to prepare.

He’d started by recruiting Hayley, who’d figured out his old alter-ego eons ago, to start pulling together prototypes for different ranger technologies. Morphers first, communication second, transportation third, surveillance last. If there was time, he would have loved to figure out teleportation- Billy was still working on it- or ways to find dormant powers or zords before their energy signatures showed up on their sensors, and, subsequently, on the enemy’s sensors as well.

With this underway, he’d heard about the internship. It was perfect. He could be on the cutting edge of dino tech. He might learn something from the fossils that could help him with finding those dormant energy signatures and, he knew, they’d be working with modifying the dinosaur genome. Maybe he could create a protective force- a front line to help ward off would be attackers so teenagers weren’t constantly in the line of fire.

That… hadn’t worked out _quite_ as he’d planned it.

(Three years later, when the younger Dino Thunder Rangers had come back to Reefside to visit from college, Ethan had suggested hanging out and watching a movie. Connor had picked one of the _Jurassic Park_ movies. Tommy had tried his best to ignore Kira’s glaring at him throughout the move as she kept pointing at the TV saying “this, Dr. O, is why we don’t combine dinosaur genetic material with living things.” Pointing out the inaccuracies of how the dinosaurs were physically portrayed had not, apparently, won him any points.)

Months later with the island exploded, Tommy would have hoped that the niggling feeling of premonition would dissipate, but it hadn’t. He’d realized, at this point, that whatever he created on that island was going to come back to bite him in the ass. Now it wasn’t just a former Ranger being prepared because he knew civilians wouldn’t know to be; it was a former Ranger who fucked up trying to smother his own moronic screw-up.

Just having the tech ready wasn’t going to be enough to right his wrongs. He was probably going to have to run whatever this team was going to be. That meant he needed a base of operations.

Oh, and he still needed to earn a living because he was an adult at this point, so a job was in order. Luckily, there was a high school forty-five minutes north of where he was based that was looking to hire an Earth and Space Science teacher and they were willing to let him or her offer an elective class. The school board had been impressed with his resume and his suggestion for a Paleontology elective with an archeology component and Tommy had been happy with the large wooded areas with houses for sale tucked away with no neighbors for miles.

Plus, Hayley had moved out to Reefside to open a cybercafé just three months before, tired of the “technologically illiterate assholes” who “hold my bonus for ransom because they crashed their servers after they did _exactly what I told the idiots not to do._ ”

And it reminded him of Angel Grove, in a way, which made it both homey and the most likely place this next Big Bad would strike.

He’d found the house off Valencia Road rather quickly, had bought it rather quickly, and had unsurprisingly, been rather quick to start preparing the house for this next chapter of his Ranger saga.

The single most important part had, of course, been the base. On the same day he closed on the house, he began digging out from the wall of the current basement. It took two weeks before the space was big enough (thank the Powers that there had ended up being a small cavern he’d run into. It would have taken another two weeks to dig that large of a section out.) He’d then cut in the trap door from the office to the new section of basement before repairing the wall of the original basement, so no one would ever have reason to know that his new secret lab was there. The little cavern had been a further godsend as there was an opening to the outside forest. It just took a little reinforcing and camouflaging, and it was perfect. Once the shell of the lab had been built, the surveillance system that Hayley had created was set up. The morphers and bikes she had created were locked away and Tommy hid the Dino gems in the lab, where he knew they would be protected from whatever evil was coming to cause havoc.

After the base was complete, and with just three weeks before his new job began, Tommy turned his focus to the perimeter. It was important that he could have any early warning system just in case the Big Bad did manage to be smarter or more advanced that their usual enemies. It took several days to painstakingly bury, attach, or otherwise hide several dozen life sensors, microphones, motion detectors, and surveillance cameras and connect them all to his systems and the ones in Hayley’s office at her café.

The last bit, defenses for the house, he’d mostly left to Hayley and Billy as technology wasn’t exactly his forte and with only ten days before school began he needed to set up his classroom, come up with lesson plans for three different classes, and get at least the office together since he figured he’d be grading quite lot of papers and tests there. Tommy had only been a little surprised when Billy had shown up with laser beams that were able to auto-target when turned on and land mines that somehow were able to identify creatures with alien DNA and exploded only upon such a finding.

(The land mines only went off once, when a pack of tyrannodrones had apparently missed their portal and stumbled onto the perimeter of his land accidently. Tommy and Hayley were both disappointed that they were never able to turn on the laser beams.)

In the day or two before the school year officially started, Tommy had taken delivery of a living room set, bought and set up a tv in the same room, and finally had put together the somewhat rickety hand-me-down kitchen table (now on its fourth owner), and hung up some pictures. Although the kitchen chairs didn’t match and half of his kitchen was still in boxes, shoved up into cabinets, the downstairs looked presentable enough in case anyone came knocking.

Upstairs was a different story altogether. His bedroom had mismatching dressers from his childhood bedroom and a lovely king-sized mattress and box spring he had sprung for two years ago that he still hadn’t gotten around to finding a frame or headboard for. His closet contained a few work clothes that he’d managed to hang up, but most of his clothes were still in boxes on the closet floor. There were four other bedrooms upstairs. One was filled with still taped moving boxes and a few odds and ends- light fixtures, switch plates, and the like that he’d seen at the home improvement store and though he might use fixing up the house. The other three bedrooms were empty.

It had been his plan to start fixing up the house as soon as the school year started. He’d be able to finish unpacking within the first two weeks if he did a little every night and then he could start on the other updates. Fixture changes could happen during weeknights, as could painting the smaller bedrooms upstairs along with the powder room on the first floor. He could rip up the carpets upstairs one weekend then spend several weekends reflooring the entire second level, room by room.

For the sake of not having to uproot himself during the school year, he decided that he’d leave his bedroom for last. It already had hardwood in great condition, so he didn’t have to replace or repair the floors and it really only needed a good coat of new paint. He’d decided that at the beginning of the following summer he’d drag out the mattress and box spring and spend a week on painting the ceiling and walls and getting some proper matching furniture in like a real adult. That would give him plenty of time to look for a bedroom set he actually liked.

Of course- the best laid plans and all of that…

Over the entire course of the school year, the only thing Tommy accomplished in setting up his house was unboxing and putting away the rest of his kitchen supplies and riffling through the clothes boxes in his master closet.

______

Tommy had come home from the high school graduation ceremony on Tuesday afternoon and walked from room to room of his house, really looking at it for the first time. He’d bought the house for the location, the fact he could extend a basement under the office side of the house, and for the lack of neighbors. But without Ranger duties and necessities that came with the position clouding his vision of the house, it now looked rather depressing. As he wandered from one room to the next, he found that he didn’t care for a single color on his walls- if he was going for neutrals, he’d rather whites or greys, not all this beige. He’d yet to pull up the ratty old carpet in the upstairs hall and spare bedrooms and he was embarrassed that his lovely bed was still on the master bedroom’s floor and his kitchen furniture was more or less disintegrating. He was living like a broke college kid, not a late twenty-something adult with an advanced degree and full-time job.

It was time to do something about all this. He decided to tackle his bedroom first. Even though it was larger than the other rooms and he had originally intended it for last, he spent time in there and he honestly couldn’t handle ripping up carpets still being so sore from the final battle. It took a bit to drag the mattress and box spring out of his room and down the hallway, but once they were gone, he had a better idea of his canvas.

He made a list. He still needed to go look for furniture. That was going to be pretty important because he wasn’t going to do all this work just to drop his mattress on the floor again. Paint, obviously- this yellowy-orange was just not doing it for him. He’d need curtains after that and a rug for under the bed. He should probably look for an actual comforter or quilt set instead of just throwing whatever random mismatched sheets and blankets he had on top of himself to sleep. And, once he had furniture, some table lamps might be nice to have. Maybe a bookshelf on the wall opposite the walk-in closet. A TV mounted near the bed might be nice to have too. He figured he should sort out the paint first. That way, he’d have an idea of what colors he could use for the other items and accessories on his list and could pick them up when he went furniture shopping.

After jotting down measurements for the room so he could make sure he got enough paint, he headed out to the store.

___________

He’d decided that he wanted to be able to display some of his Ranger memorabilia where he could see it- pictures of his teams in civilian clothes, a few bits he’d recovered from the command center, his now inert Dino Thunder crystal shard, his communicator from the Mighty Morphin’ days… he didn’t want them hidden, locked away in the Dino Thunder base below his house like his old uniforms, the teens’ uniforms, and the old Mighty Morphin’ uniforms he recovered were. And if he was displaying ranger stuff in his bedroom, it was only right that it be painted one of his colors.

That had made it easy to rule out blue (although he had grabbed a soft, light blue color he might paint the kitchen), yellow (a sunny yellow might be good for the laundry/mud room right off the kitchen, so he’d grabbed several swatches to bring home), orange (there would be no orange in his house whatsoever after the monstrosity that was his current master bedroom), and purple (maybe a lilac tinged grey for the powder room? He wasn’t exactly sold…). He’d quickly nixed the idea of painting his room black- it’d just be too dark and he found himself not feeling quite as attached to that color as his others, probably just because he’d lived with green, white, and red for so many years now. He wasn’t too keen on painting the room red either; he still woke up with nightmares of his friends and family being kidnapped and killed by everyone from Rita to Mesogog and waking up to red walls would not calm him. So, it was down to white or green, but he was rather unsure of which to lean towards and what shade once he’d picked one. He’d been shuffling between the white-neutrals at one end of the wall over to the greens toward the other end and back again, picking up swatches and putting them back, for at least half an hour before he heard the footsteps of an employee coming over to check on him.

“Excuse me, sir,” said a voice he could easily pinpoint as belonging to Kimberly Hart, even after all these years. “You seem a little lost. Is there anything I can help you with?”

_____

When Kim had come back from her allotted thirty-minute break, Pat, whose shift was just about over, had informed her that the gentleman on the color wall had been there for about twenty-five minutes. Ten minutes later, Pat’s shift was over but he was still in the store, trying to convince Kim again that she should call for a taxi in case the thunderstorms that were meant to be rolling in really were as bad as the news was saying they’d be. She smiled and reassured him but never actually agreed, not wanting to promise to pay for a taxi when her apartment was only a mile’s walk away. Instead, she tried to distract Pat by reminding him to say hello to his daughter Melanie for her and to wish her a good last day of second grade tomorrow morning. With Pat out the door, Kim took to people watching- or, well, person watching since there was only one person to watch. The color wall was on the front half of the wall on the opposite side of the store, while the mixing desk and checkout was in the opposite back corner. It was quite impossible to see a person’s face if they were at the color wall unless they turned around.

The man at the color wall had yet to turn and Kim wondered what he looked like. He had strong looking shoulders, was tall by not toweringly so, and she liked his hair- it was dark and thick and had been gelled into spikes, although the man kept running his fingers through is hair, messing the spikes up. She wondered what type of room he was picking paint for. A nursery, perhaps, since he seemed so stressed out and kept picking up neutrals and pastels. Or perhaps a large basement rec-room, she thought as he reached above his head for a much deeper forest green shade. Maybe he had a new house and was painting everything, she thought as he went over to study the reds.

Regardless, Kim wondered if she should offer some assistance. Most people came in with at least some idea of what they wanted, but this man had picked up and put down almost every color from white to black, pastel to neutral to muted, light to dark. Every color except that he studiously avoided anything even remotely orange. The fact that she was bored and that he seemed to not even be close to narrowing down his options (other than not orange) finally decided it for her and she walked over. “Excuse me, sir. You seem a little lost. Is there anything I can help you with?”

The man spun around smiling, almost giddy and breathed out “Kim” rather reverently. It took a second for the face in front of her and the voice to register as being Tommy’s. The realization took her breath away for a second.

Then she blurted out the first thought that crossed her mind. “Tommy! You’re wearing glasses!” She blushed, embarrassed. She’d found over the last few years that her brain no longer screamed “geeky” when she saw a guy wearing glasses. If they had the right type of frame for their face, Kim found that she was becoming increasingly more attracted to men in glasses.

And those glasses suited Tommy exceedingly well.

“They look really good.” She just couldn’t stop herself from talking, it seemed.

Tommy laughed a little self-consciously as he reached up to adjust the frames on his face a little. “Most people comment on the hair. I’m surprised you noticed the glasses first.”

“I wear glasses to read and for anything close up now. I guess ever since I got my first pair, I notice them a lot more on people than I used to.” Kimberly wasn’t quite sure of what her relationship was right now with Tommy. Did he see her as the old friend and teammate that he hadn’t seen in ages who he’d want to catch up with? Was she the evil witch of an ex-girlfriend who he’d take any steps to avoid? Was she the vague acquaintance who he’d exchange small talk with then nothing else? She was relatively sure that she at least wasn’t the evil witch ex- he was smiling at her, his shoulders relaxed, and he hadn’t run out the door. But unsure of exactly where she stood, she figured it would be best just to be professional.

“So, uh, you look lost in the paint swatches.”

“Yeah,” he sighed, turning halfway to face the wall again, she stepped up next to him to survey it too. “There are just too many options.”

“Well, maybe I can help you narrow it down. What type of room are you painting?”

“Well, sort of every room. I have a big house and I’ve been there a year and I hate every single color the previous owners had up, except _maybe_ the hall bath upstairs.”

“Whole house at once might be biting off more than you can chew. Do you know what room you want to start with, or maybe the first two?”

“Well, I’d like to get my master bedroom painted by this weekend.”

“That’s a good place to start. What color families are you leaning toward for the bedroom?”

“Green or white.”

“How big is the room? Does it get good light?”

“It’s pretty big. I definitely don’t have enough stuff in there, so it makes it just feel huge. There are windows on two walls too, so I get a lot of light. I really need to find blackout curtains.” He pulled out a little spiral top notebook and made a note, assumedly to make sure he got the blackouts.

“What color is it now?”

“Orange.” This was said with venom.

“Okay then. Off the bat, you’ll definitely want to prime your walls first then if you go for anything other than dark. You could go really light with a white or a really pale green like one of these” she picked out a white with the faintest hint of mint and another that was a pale moss color, “and it will make the room feel really airy. Or, if you wanted it to be more homey, maybe go with a more muted or slightly darker green.” She picked up a muted spearmint green color, a rich green teal, and finally a dark emerald green, her favorite color in the store.

“I think I like homey over airy.”

Kim nodded, putting the lighter colors aside to talk about the relative merits of the other colors she had grabbed. “So, here, you have a muted color, a rich color, and a dark jewel tone color. They should all make the room homier, but in different ways. This muted color is more earthy. It’s cooler than the other colors too, so it might be more calming. This richer teal would give you a nice pop and you probably want to pair more neutral and earthy colors with it around your room. This dark color will probably make the room feel somewhat smaller. At night it’s dark, so won’t feel like light is bouncing off the walls so much, which might make it easier to fall asleep. During the day, the sunlight should bring out the jewel tones.”

Tommy looked critically at the three colors on the table before him.

“There are other colors too. I was just using these as an example,” Kim reminded him, reading his critical gaze as discontent.

“No, I actually like all three of these…”

“But?”

“I’m doubting my own taste, I guess?”

“How so? Talk me through what you’re thinking.”

“I like this color,” Tommy indicated the green teal swatch, “but as, I don’t know, a throw blanket or a pillow for the couch. And this color,” he pointed this time to the muted mint color, “I feel like is too light still. I actually love this dark color. I can see it in the room. I just feel like I’ve always heard that you shouldn’t paint walls that dark.”

“It’s certainly not a color for the faint of heart. But if you aren’t meant to paint walls that color, why would they make it an interior paint?”

Tommy smiled, nodded, and took one more sweeping glance at the various shades of green on the wall. “Yeah, I’m going to do this one.”

“Perfect. Let’s go mix it.” At the desk Tommy asked for three gallons (“to be safe”) in a semi-gloss. While they mixed, Tommy told her that he needed to repaint the ceiling (“I didn’t know there could be so many different shades of white on one surface”) and so Kim helped him pick out a color for the ceiling and trim work. He picked up painting supplies, soliciting her opinion on which tools would work best. She rang him up as the paint continued to be mixed and they chatted once she gave him his first two gallons and set the third and ceiling white color to mix.

It had been nice to see him again and Kim was a little sad that he was about to leave.

Tommy must have felt the same way because he looked a little nervous before he said, “hey, uh, it has really been way too long since we saw each other. I have so many things I want to tell you about and I could really use help with painting this room if I want to get it all done this week. Is there any way I could tempt you to come over and help me? I’ll pay in pizza.”

Kim scrutinized him playfully for a minute. “I do have off tomorrow. But only if the pizza is from Sal’s.”

“I have no idea where that is, but sure. 9AM-ish? I’ll have bagels and all too.”

“How do you not know Sal’s? It’s the only pizza worth eating around here?!” She removed the last two paint cans from the mixer and brought them over to him.

“I’ve been preoccupied this last year.”

“Yeah, yeah, yeah. Quit using the uniform as an excuse.” He gave her a surprised look. “Oh, come on Tommy. I was stuck on a bus while your team fought a monster downtown once, so I got a good look. I fought beside you for long enough to recognize your ass in spandex.” Tommy’s eyebrows shot up and he gave her a wicked smirk. “That’s not what I meant! I didn’t mean it like that! I just meant that I know your style!” 

“Mm-hmm,” he agreed in mock indulgence. He passed her a slip of paper- _his address and phone number_ , Kim’s brain provided, before he turned, still grinning like the cat that caught the canary, and headed for the door.

_________

Although he still needed to shop for a bedroom set, Tommy found himself unmotivated to do so and too distracted by his chance encounter to feel frustrated with his procrastination. Arriving at home, he dropped the paint cans and supplies upstairs before going down to the kitchen to prepare himself dinner. It was too warm to cook anything, so he settled for a simple salad topped with leftover grilled chicken and ate quickly before going back upstairs. He put on shorts and a cut off before opening several of the windows to keep the air circulating. It would be a good idea to get the first coat on the ceiling tonight and get a coat on the trim as well. He could put a second coat on early, before Kim arrived so they could focus on the walls together.

Tommy turned on a radio, sitting it in the hallway and put on a station playing hits from the last twenty years. He mumbled along to the songs as he laid out the drop cloths he’d bought and readied the ceiling paint. It didn’t take him long to do the ceiling, but the trim around the windows and ceiling had to be painted by hand, not roller, and he needed to tape the trim around the windows and doors once it was dry enough as well as remove switch plates and outlet covers, so it was near 10PM by time he called it quits for the night.

Tommy cleaned up a bit, leaving the drop cloths out for tomorrow before showering, still singing some 90’s pop hit that had stuck with him when he heard it because he remembered it had been a favorite of Kim’s. He got dressed and went downstairs, doing his best to make himself comfortable on the living room couch and setting his alarm before drifting off to sleep.

______

Kim was nervous the next morning as the taxi wound its way through the landscape on the way to Tommy’s rather remote house. Tommy’s invitation had put her at least in the _Old Friend who I want to catch up with and have a relationship with_ and his flirting yesterday maybe even suggested that she was the _Old Flame I still carry a torch for._ Either way, it meant that she was going to have to come clean about the letter. If not today, then very, very soon. She wasn’t worried that he’d be mad- that was a rather unlikely outcome. It was that he’d be upset. Kim didn’t want to hurt him more than she already had, but there had been a reason she had lied in that letter. This truth would hurt.

Her thoughts were cut short by the taxi turning onto a driveway. The mailbox she passed proclaimed the same address Tommy had written on that slip of paper yesterday. She checked the time on her cell phone- 8:47. Tommy had said 9ish, so that was hopefully close enough.

Kim paid her driver and walked up to the front door, smoothing down her shirt in the reflection of the front glass screen door. Kim had put on workout clothes- not her best and certainly not her worst. They’d have to pass for painting clothes since she didn’t have any- all the apartments she had lived in since leaving gymnastics had forbidden her to paint the walls.

She took a deep breath in and a deep breath out before pressing the doorbell. It took a minute before she heard footsteps hurrying towards the door. Then the front door swung open and there on the other side of the glass screen door was Tommy, smiling his wide, dopey, puppy dog smile and already covered in white paint. He wore black basketball shorts and a white tank top.

There were tattoos all up and down both of his arms. For a split second, Kim felt every part of her go weak. Tommy had always been the most gorgeous man of her acquaintance, then he’d gone and added glasses and tattoos- two of the three things that could make almost any man hotter. It just wasn’t fair. She was far too attracted to him.

_I am not going to faint this time. I am not going to faint this time. I am not going to faint this time,_ she chanted in her head as Tommy invited her inside and she smiled up at him. She had to keep the chant going when he stepped into her space, pulling her into a hug. _He’s going to be the death of me. But what a way to go_ , she thought as she hugged him back.

After a few seconds he loosened his hold and stepped back, but didn’t completely release her, instead lightly gripping one of her elbows in each of his palms. “Thanks for coming, Kim! I was just finishing taping the trim on the ceiling, so we don’t have to worry about it so much as we paint. If you give me a second to finish, I’ll be right down, and we can eat those bagels. Feel free to look around. I’ll be right back. 

Kim nodded, finding that she didn’t really have words when Tommy was standing in front of her, looking like that, sounding so pleased to see her, holding her. Kim’s palms slid off Tommy’s tattooed forearms, where they had been resting, as he moved away, toward a staircase in the living room.

Alone, Kim tried to catch her breath. _Deep breath in, Deep breath out_ , she reminded herself. Once she was sufficiently in control of her own body again, she stepped further into the house, closing the front door behind her. The foyer she stood in was horribly closed in, or it would be if the doors to the office on her right, the living room on her left and the kitchen ahead of her had been closed. The lower parts of the walls were clad in a light stained wood while the drywall above it was painted almost the exact same color. It was monotone in the worst possible way and Kim was only surprised that it had taken Tommy a year to decide to redecorate, even if he had been fighting monsters.

She peaked into the office first, the same wood was in here, although it bizarrely covered the top 80% of the wall and the bottom of the wall was painted red. Kim hoped that Tommy had plans to completely redo the walls of this room because she wasn’t sure how any color could fix what was currently there.

She took herself across the hall to the living room next. This room was large and open with an L-shaped staircase leading upstairs on the back wall perpendicular to the wall with the door to the foyer. Two full sized leather couches and a matching leather recliner sat angled toward the large TV Tommy had mounted above the wood burning fireplace. There were three side tables positioned between the seats with a few little things displayed. One table had a stack of stone coasters and a photo of Tommy between an older man and another man around their age who could have been Tommy’s twin if he’d had one. Kim walked over and picked up the picture, setting her purse on the couch. This was obviously the long-lost brother Tommy had found, whom Jason had mentioned to her before. On the next side table sat the little notebook Tommy had been carrying with him yesterday and a half full glass of water. The last table sat next to the recliner had a lamp and a stack of magazines, the top one being _Geology Quarterly,_ with the glasses Tommy had been wearing the day before folded on top them. He’d placed pictures all about this room- there was one of Tommy, her, and the original team and another showing the team after Aisha, Rocky, and Adam had taken their places both sat on the mantlepiece, just below the TV. There was a sort of collage of pictures on another wall- pictures of Tommy with various people- many of them their mutual Ranger friends, some with family member, and some with people she didn’t recognize at all that she assumed were his friends from racing, college, and more recent pursuits.

She would admit to being surprised when she saw the picture of her and Tommy together smiling at each other, seemingly oblivious to the camera pointed at them.

“Hayley helped me put up this collage wall. She was not particularly happy with me for including that photo.” Tommy admitted behind her, making Kim jump. He could be a quiet little ninja when he set his mind to it.

Kim put a hand to her chest, reminding herself to breathe and turned to face Tommy, trying to not let her heart hurt at the mention of a woman helping to decorate his house. “Yeah, I can imagine any woman would be unhappy with her boyfriend putting up a picture of an ex. I’m surprised you have it up at all.”

Tommy laughed again. “Hayley is definitely _not_ my girlfriend. Doesn’t go for men at all, actually. She’s just a little overprotective. I guess she is to me what Jason is to you, pseudo-older sibling wise.”

Kim tried not to let relief show on her face, then mentally kicked herself. Her primary reason for breaking up with Tommy and for not contacting him when Jason had told her ten months ago that Tommy lived nearby was his active Ranger status. He might not be an active Ranger any longer, but that didn’t fix all the hurt she knew she had caused. She was being cruel to herself, really, when she hoped for a renewed romantic relationship with this man.

Really, this easy friendship they had fallen back into was well above what she could have ever hoped to have with him after the letter she had sent.

“Come on, let’s get those bagels. I’m hungry.” Tommy said, taking her hand and pulling her through the rest of the house. On the “long way” to the kitchen, he pointed out the powder room and, across from it, the laundry room, which had a door leading outside. They came into a space that Tommy said was originally billed as a formal dining room, but he had turned into something resembling a conservatory. Two walls were full of windows and Tommy had covered the windowsills in various plants. Kim recognized mint, lavender, and basil, but didn’t have time to smell or identify the rest of the plants before being whisked away to the kitchen.

_______

After they had eaten their bagels, they went upstairs to start painting. Tommy turned on the radio sitting in the hallway as Kim opened up the first gallon of paint, stirred it, and poured some into a paint pan for the roller, then another smaller cup that would be easier to use for someone painting around the trim near the ceiling.

Tommy took the cup, a brush, and the ladder to start painting around the ceiling trim while Kim took another brush and the pan of paint to work around the trim encasing the windows on the perpendicular wall. She asked Tommy questions about his Ranger team and their battles and this kept him talking most of the morning as they slowly moved around the room. Tommy kept mostly to the ladder, moving it around the room as he painted around the ceiling trim, Kim always one wall behind him, although now using the roller for the wider expanses of bare wall. Around lunchtime, Tommy got to the last wall, the shorter wall of windows and they both had a fun time trying to not fall over each other as they tried to complete the first coat of the project. They’d only just managed to open the second gallon, at that point.

“It’s definitely going to need a second coat,” Kim said, surveying the room, her critical eye seeing uneven, patchy areas.

“Yeah, but it looks so much better than that awful color that was in here before. Come on, let’s let this dry for a little. I ordered you pizza from Sal’s and it should be here soon. We can put together a salad in the meantime.”

________

Tommy absolutely hated painting. It was fumey and tiring and took forever. However, with Kim always just a wall over, he realized that he was actually having a good time. He’d have to figure out a way to get her to help with all of the rooms.

He led her downstairs and back to the kitchen, pulling items for the salad out of the refrigerator. “I can cut everything up,” Kim said, getting to work as Tommy pulled out plates and then took to washing the vegetables as Kim cut them up. He got both of them lemonade- a last second purchase this morning when he went out for the bagels, when they were finished.

They sat down at the table as they waited for the pizza to arrive, both picking at the salad, and Tommy finished a story that he had begun upstairs about a time in college when he and Hayley had gotten drunk and challenged each other to a game of darts that had ended up getting them permanently banned from the bar. Kim was laughing so hard that Tommy only barely caught the sound of a phone alarm going off.

“What’s that?”

Kim stopped for a second, listening. “Oh, that’s me. It’s just to remind me that I need to take some meds. Let me grab my purse.” A few seconds later, the doorbell sounded, so Tommy went to the front door to get the pizza as Kim came back with her purse.

When he came back with the pizza, Tommy watched as Kim pulled out a medication keeper, opened a compartment and dumped two different pills in her hand, taking them with a gulp of lemonade.

It was weird. Kim had resisted taking even the weakest over the counter drug when they were dating, even when she had been feeling particularly awful. Something in him screamed that this wasn’t right, but he tried to calm himself. Tommy knew that Rangering could put a lot of pressure on a person’s body. They might still both be in their late twenties but serving sometimes made parts of your body feel like you were twice or three times as old.

But he couldn’t help but ask. “I think I can count on one hand the number of times I’ve seen you take Tylenol, but it looks like you have half a pharmacy in that box.”

Kim only responded with an embarrassed laugh.

“Is everything okay? What are all of those for?”

“Yeah. They’re all just, well, preventative, I suppose you could say.” Tommy gave her a look- that hadn’t told him much anything at all. “I had some seizures a few years ago. This is to keep all that under control.”

“Seizures? Plural?!”

“Yes, but I haven’t had one in the past three years, so I’m doing alright. It’s under control. I just can’t drive and stuff, as a precaution.”

Tommy wanted to ask more, but he got the impression that his questions would be seen as intrusive. He’d talked all morning, but Kim hadn’t given up much about herself in the last few years. He brought the pizza over to the table and they each added a slice and some salad to their plates. “So, how long have you been back on the West Coast?”

“I actually moved back this way right before the last time we saw each other.” She looked away and Tommy wondered what part of their last meeting was making her embarrassed. Was it because she’d been turned evil? He hoped not; she should know it wasn’t her fault. “I was living out in Seattle with my dad, stepmom, and my half-sister.”

“Oh, I didn’t know they’d had a kid.”

“Yeah. Her name’s Vanessa. She was born like two weeks before I moved out there. I lived with them for four years while I went to college, then ended up moving here to Reefside right after that.”

“What did you go to college for?”

“Interior design.”

“Yeah, that sounds like something you’d be good at.”

“I am, I have a part time online interior design consulting business that does okay.”

“Why not full time?”

“Because I can’t drive. I’m not allowed when I’m taking the anti-seizure meds because I’m still at risk for them. I’d love to do it all full time, but to get into those big projects, you have to be able to go to the client to really be effective. Doing it part time is alright. I have a blog too about decorating and design in rental units, so a lot of my clients want help with things like that. The limitations on what you can do to a rented property make the projects more interesting.”

“And the job at the paint store?”

“That pays my bills every month whereas the consulting is my money to spend and save. It’s close to my apartment, so I can walk, which is much nicer now that I don’t have to worry about monster attacks.”

They chatted on about Kim’s blog, her favorite projects that she had consulted on, and her little sister Vanessa for a while as they ate lunch and relaxed before they decided to go back upstairs and continue painting.

They followed the same pattern and path as before, although this time they swapped college stories about professors, classmates, and internships (“only you, Tommy, would start an internship to try to head off a Big Bad and just go and make the foot soldiers for him.”)

When they finished the second coat, they decided that yes, two coats would be enough, and they would have to wait for it all to dry a bit before they could tell if any spots would need a little extra paint.

“This color is perfect.” Tommy said, surveying their work.

“I’m glad you picked it. It’s my favorite color in the whole store and no one ever buys it. It looks great in here with all the sun.”

It was only just nearing 6PM and Tommy realized that Kim would be leaving soon if he couldn’t find some reason for her to stay. “Do you work tomorrow?”

“Not until 1PM. I close tomorrow.”

“May I make a proposition?” Seeing no argument from Kim, he continued. “Maybe we could have dinner and watch a movie or something and make a blanket fort in the living room since I don’t have any other bedrooms set up? I’ve had such a good time today and I honestly don’t want you to leave, especially since I feel like we have so much to catch up on.” Kim looked a little unsure. “I promise I can drop you off at your apartment no later than noon tomorrow, earlier if you’d like. I have to get into town tomorrow anyway to do some shopping”

“I guess… I didn’t think to bring a change of clothes though.”

“I’d be glad to lend you something of mine.”

_________

Kimberly let her mind wander as she stood beneath the warm spray of the showerhead in Tommy’s master bath. She wondered what it would be like to have him in here with her but tried to redirect her mind as soon as she realized what she was thinking. She was being cruel to herself, letting her mind wander to the two of them in a compromising position. Kim just couldn’t imagine tying any person, especially a person as wonderful as Tommy, to herself with her health being as it was. _Anyway_ , she consoled herself, _everyone says shower sex is actually awful, but hell, I’d love to actually find out for myself._

A few minutes later, Kim turned off the shower, now feeling much better without any dried paint remaining on her skin, and dried off with the towel Tommy had left on the counter, one of his t-shirts, a pair of sweatpants, and a set of crew socks folded beside it. Kim slipped on the clothes minus the socks which would just be too comically large. She was already swimming in the rest of Tommy’s clothes as they were. Towel now wrapped around her hair, Kim gathered the clothes she had worn during the day and brought them down to the laundry room where Tommy had advised her that he had a load to run anyway, so it was easy enough to wash her clothes with it.

Kim found Tommy in the living room with a stack of pillows, sleeping bags, and blankets. Together, they made the promised blanket fort, pushing around couches and tables so they were better placed to hold up the blanket roof of their fort. They giggled the entire time and Kim felt freer than she had in ages.

They laid sleeping bags on the ground as cushion before layering more blankets on top, pillows being added last. They were just picking out a movie to watch when the Thai food Tommy had ordered to be delivered for dinner arrived. Kim got to the door first and paid, much to Tommy’s chagrin and they ate again in the kitchen.

______

A half hour after dinner, Tommy and Kim finally settled into their blanket fort to watch “Robin Hood: Men in Tights.” Tommy was impressed that Kim knew all the words to all of the songs. “I went on a bit of a Cary Elwes kick a few years ago. This movie was my favorite,” she admitted. “There was a Gene Wilder phase too… we’ll have to watch “Haunted Honeymoon” at some point. So, so funny.”

Once their movie was over, they flipped through the local channels until they landed on a sit-com that could distract their attention, although neither was too invested. They were both trying to come up with some way to bring up the Letter. When the show ended around 10PM, Tommy shut off the TV, opened his mouth to suggest they talk, but chickened out and admitted instead that he was exhausted after painting all day. Kim agreed and they got up to finish getting ready for bed.

After brushing his teeth, Tommy checked to make sure he’d locked all the doors. He came into the living room and saw Kim shaking more pills into her had to take, swallowing them quickly before pushing the pill box back in her purse and pushing her purse outside of their blanket fort.

Tommy’s heart ached again, watching Kim gulp down the pills like it was normal. _It is normal for Kim,_ Tommy reminded himself. He took a second to pull himself together before turning off the light and making his way over to their fort by the moonlight seeping in through the living room window. He settled himself in his spot, laying on his back next to Kim, and tried not to be too thrilled by the fact that she didn’t move away when he settled and their arms were lightly pressed against each other from shoulder to elbow. 

After a dozen or so minutes of internal pep-talks and comforted by the darkness that would hide his hurt and tears if the letter did turn out to be true, Tommy finally worked up the courage to ask.

“Kim?”

“Yes, Tommy?”

“What happened? What did I do to lose you to someone else?” Tommy couldn’t help the slight crack in his voice at the end.

“Oh, Tommy.” Kim turned on her side to face him and Tommy was disappointed to lose bodily contact with her, but she, after a moment, did reach down and take his left hand in hers. “You didn’t do anything wrong. Our breakup was not your fault.”

“But it had to have been. You said you found someone else that made you happier, that I was like a _brother_ to you.” He felt her flinch, but she didn’t let go of his hand. “If someone else made you happier, then I had to be doing something wrong. I had to be falling short somehow.”

“There wasn’t anyone else, Tommy.”

“But then why would you-”

“I was trying to… I needed to let you go and I was trying to make sure you wouldn’t come after me. That was the only way I could think of. I knew, even if it broke you, you’d let me go if you thought I was happy.”

There was a moment of silence as Tommy processed. “But you weren’t happy?” He hazarded to guess.

“No, I wasn’t. I was sick and I knew that I had to let you go because my illness would distract you from what you needed to do as a Ranger.”

“The seizures?”

“They were, well _are_ a symptom. Do you remember when I came home at Christmas, I kept complaining about headaches and them making me feel really nauseous some days?” Tommy nodded and squeezed Kim’s hand, not liking where this was going. “Well, they kept coming when I went back to training. And then it started that some days my eyesight would go a little weird and blurry. Then one day I had just gotten off the beam and was walking to sit down and next thing I know, I’m waking up in the hospital hours later. They told me I had a seizure right there in the middle of the gym and I lost consciousness. There was another one in the ambulance. Once I was awake, they started doing tests- blood tests, testing my reactions, and scans. The scans showed a tumor- a pretty big one- around my cerebellum. They had done a scan right after I feel off the beam before I went to train and there wasn’t anything there then, so with how quickly it grew, my doctor thought it was pretty likely that the tumor was cancerous.”

Tommy opened his mouth to say something, anything, but nothing came out but a distressed moan. He turned on his side to face Kim too and buried his face against her shoulder, pulling her close.

“I wrote the letter before they did the surgery and biopsy. It turned out to not be cancerous- it was benign, but still dangerous because of the pressure it was creating. I’m okay, Tommy, I’m okay.” Tommy was crying quietly, but in earnest now and Kim must have felt his tears soaking through the shoulder of her shirt.

“Why? Why wouldn’t you tell me that? I would have been there in a second!”

“I know, Handsome. I know. That’s why I lied. That’s why I didn’t tell you. That’s why I _couldn’t_ tell you.” She took a deep breath. “You, Tommy, are the most loyal man I’ve ever met. I knew that the moment I told you something was wrong; you’d be next to me as soon as humanly possible. And God, Tommy, I wanted you there so bad. I was so, so scared being alone. But, telling you, knowing that you’d drop everything to be there with me, it would have been selfish of me. You being there wouldn’t have changed the outcome of my surgery in any way, but it could have been catastrophic for the rest of the world. You were the leader of the Power Rangers, Tommy. I couldn’t pull you away from that just so you could sit in a waiting room worrying about a surgery I might not come out of.”

“I would have come to you willingly. I could have given up my powers and-”

“No, Tommy.” Kim’s voice, which had been full of emotion and had constantly wavered up to this point, was suddenly hard. “You needed to be there. That team would have fallen apart without you.”

“They would have managed.”

“No, they wouldn’t. You forget, I got letters and calls from you and you used to talk about how that team’s dynamic was nothing like it had been with the Mighty Morphin’ and Ninjetti Powers. And I got letters from all the others minus Tanya too. Tommy, you couldn’t have handed your powers off to someone new when everyone else there had so much more experience. They wouldn’t have respected them. From what you said, some days, they barely followed you.”

“But one of the others could have been in charge. It doesn’t technically have to be the red ranger. I mean Rocky was a former red. He could have led.”

“He was distraught over Aisha leaving without being able to say goodbye and without being able to tell her how he felt. He wasn’t fit to lead. Adam, for all his awesome strategy work, fighting skills, and other positive personality traits, didn’t have the backbone to put everyone in their place and keep things running. Kat was still battling her inner demons and was still learning how to be a fighter, really. Tanya was brand new. None of them could have taken over. It had to be you.”

“Being a Ranger shouldn’t have controlled my life, my relationship.”

Kim’s voice got softer. “I know. But it did. Tommy, being a Ranger means making sacrifices for the greater good. Usually, that just means losing afterschool activities or your grades slipping or your parents being mad that you’re late for dinner. Sometimes, it means losing a lot more.” There was quiet for a moment before she said even softer, “the fate of at least millions if not all human life rested on your ability to defeat the Machine Empire, Tommy. I knew that you’d come to me if I told you, even knowing how important your job was. I couldn’t let so many people die just because I wanted my boyfriend, just because I was scared. I don’t regret keeping you away, Tommy. It was the right choice. I only regret that you haven’t moved on, that you aren’t happy now.”

Tommy sat up, cross legged, and pulled Kim with him so she was sitting in his lap, the front of their torsos pressed together. He pulled her as close as he thought he could without hurting her. He tried to speak, but found his body was wracked with sobs and he could only hold onto Kim as she rubbed her hands over his back and made comforting noises quietly in his ear.


	2. True White

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> All of my medical knowledge comes from google, so don't listen to me.

Kim, at some point in the wee hours of the morning, had coerced Tommy to release her. She laid him down and covered him with blankets before cuddling up to him, running her hand up and down his chest to soothe his continued upset before he finally fell asleep. Exhausted by the whole ordeal of telling the story of her tumor, Kim fell into a fitful sleep not long after.

Both former Rangers were woken the next morning by another alarm on Kim’s phone. She pulled out the medicine organizer and pulled just one pill out this time, promptly swallowing it before settling back down with Tommy.

“Why do you still have to take pills for seizures after you’ve had the tumor removed?” Tommy asked, his voice gravelly, although Kim wasn’t sure if it was due to the sleep or the crying last night.

“They couldn’t get the full tumor. They only took out about seventy percent of it. The other thirty percent was too dangerous to try to take out because of where it is. I still can have seizures, so we try to control it.”

“The other pills?”

“Mostly to keep the tumor from growing again. And there’s a completely unrelated thing with my thyroid that I take a pill for. And my doctor put me on birth control to help control some of my hormones, so they don’t mess with my seizures too.”

Tommy nodded and rolled over so he could snake one arm under her shoulders and pull her into him. “I’m scared. I can’t lose you again.”

“I’m here, Tommy. I’m here and I’m doing okay right now.”

“But if the tumor is still there… what if you have a seizure even with the medicine?”

“It’s possible.” Kim admitted. “It’s happened before, and we’ve had to modify the dosage.”

“But Kim, I knew someone in college who had seizures and took medicine and one day he had one and he just- they couldn’t do anything, and he didn’t make it!”

Kim nodded sadly. “That’s also possible. I have a seizure plan that I carry with me. I’ve just found that I can’t think about worst case scenarios. I have to keep living and hoping for the best.”

They laid in silence for a few minutes, Tommy trying to get a hold on his emotions while he stroked the back of Kim’s head.

“I should tell you,” Kim started tentatively, pulling her head back to look up into Tommy’s face, “that there’s a new surgery that might be able to remove part or all of the rest of the tumor.”

“New as in recently approved or new as in experimental?”

“New as in still in the experimental phase, but it’s on it’s last round of tests before approval. There’s a doctor who is trained in it down at UCLA. My neurologist and I agree that I should at least go and be tested to see if I’m a good candidate for the surgery.”

Tommy’s breathing had picked up and he’d pulled her tighter against him again. “What are the risks?”

“I don’t really know them all yet. That’s why I need to go and talk to the neurosurgeon… see if it’s the right fit for me and if my tumor is the right fit for it. There are risks inherent with all surgeries. There’s never absolute certainty that someone will come out the same or at all, even with the most routine procedures.”

“I can’t lose you again, Kim. I just can’t.”

“I know, Handsome. I just hate living with this thing in my head; it’s keeping me from living the life I want to have. But I’m not going to throw away what I do have if the risk of the surgery is too high. I promise, any decision I make is going to be informed. I’m not going to go into this blindly.”

“Can I come with you? When you get your tests done, I mean.”

Kim smiled at him. “If you want to drive me all the way to LA, sure! My appointment is supposed to be sometime in July; I’m just waiting for them to get back to me on when the doc can see me.”

“You’ll let me know?”

“Of course. Thank you, Tommy. I know this diagnosis is difficult to deal with and I think it’s been much harder on everyone else in my life I’ve told than it’s ever been on me.”

They got up not long after and Kim offered to make scrambled eggs for breakfast which Tommy was glad to let her do. He always managed to burn eggs, no matter what he did. Over breakfast, talk turned to Kim’s job at the paint store (“it’s usually pretty quiet and people are generally nice.”), what room Tommy would tackle next (“I think grey for the upstairs hallway.”), and what plans Tommy had for the rest of the day (“I _desperately_ need to buy some bedroom furniture.”)

Tommy retrieved Kim’s now laundered clothes from the dryer so she could go get dressed and by 10AM the pair were in Tommy’s Jeep on the way to Kim’s apartment.

“Do any of the guys know?” Tommy asked, glancing towards her. Kim quickly realized that they were back to talking about the tumor.

“Yes. Jason, Trini, and Zach know. Aisha does too.” Kim cleared her throat. “Jason got in touch with my mom almost immediately after he heard about the letter and couldn’t get me on the phone. She told him what was going on. That was maybe the day before my surgery? Mom was distraught because neither she nor my dad were going to be able to get to me before they put me under. Jason obviously told Trini and Zach and the three of them showed up two days after my parents, three days after the surgery. ‘Sha tracked me down three years ago. Apparently, she threatened Trini within an inch of her life before Tri spilled where I was.”

“Why didn’t you tell me after you found out the tumor was benign?”

Kim sighed. “Because I was still having trouble with seizures and headaches and I was trying to recover from surgery. You were still a Ranger. Finally, I got to the point where I was feeling better and I figured it was time. So, Jason and I decided we’d go to your karate charity tournament. Since I was feeling so much better and my doctor okayed it, Jason suggested we go scuba diving before hand to help calm my nerves.”

“And then you got captured and turned evil.”

“Yes. And then, after you guys saved us but before the tournament, I had another seizure. I decided that maybe it wasn’t the right time since you were still in uniform and my seizures were not as under control as I had thought. Then I saw you with Kat and I wanted so badly for you to be happy. I just didn’t have it in me to pull you into this mess.”

Tommy reached over with his right hand to grab her left. He squeezed it.

“Well, I know now. I’d rather be with you and dealing with this than without you, even if it meant less stress. Promise to tell me if anything changes from now on?”

“Promise.”

They drove the rest of the way to Kim’s apartment in silence, hands still clasped.

__________

Walking into Hayley’s Cyberspace Café, Tommy realized that he’d already lost track of what day it was, and it took a few moments to realize it was Friday. It was now just past 11AM and the café was still pretty empty with just Trent wandering about aimlessly and a pair of teens making use of the computers along the far wall. If teenagers today were anything like Tommy had been at their age (they were), then Tommy expected that this place wouldn’t really start to fill up until sometime after one. Which gave him plenty of time to talk to Hayley and try to convince her not to bite off Kim’s head when they met.

Especially since they might meet on their own. Kim had complained about there not being a smoothie place near her and Tommy had commented that Cyberspace was just a half mile from her apartment and the smoothies were almost as good as Ernie’s. _Maybe_ , he thought in retrospect, _I should have told Kim that Hayley owns it and is there all the time and to hold off until they’re introduced._

“Hey Tom,” Hayley called as she came out of the back room behind the counter with a tray of clean glasses. “It’s been a while,” she said, with just a hint of accusation in her voice.

“I’m sorry. I decided to start working on painting the house and it turns out that I’m a little indecisive. It took me a while to pick the color the other night and then I spent yesterday painting.”

“Well, at least you were productive, even if you did leave me to deal with a pack of roaming teenagers alone all day yesterday.”

“Welcome to my life. I get them every day during the school year.”

Hayley huffed and Tommy took that as a point for him. “I actually want to talk to you about something if you have the time?”

“Sure, Tom. What do you need?”

“An ear, mostly,” he admitted.

Hayley looked surprised but motioned him over toward a cluster of armchairs that were furthest from the teens on the computers. “Trent, keep an eye on things for me, but I’ll jump back in if I need to.”

“No problem, Hayley.” Trent said, slipping back behind the counter to put away the glasses that Hayley had brought out.

Hayley sat in an armchair to Tommy’s left where it would be easy for them to talk quietly amongst themselves. “Is everything okay?”

“Yes and no.”

“That’s not helpful Tom.”

“Then let me start with- you’ll never guess who I bumped into buying paint the other day.”

Hayley rolled her eyes but guessed all the same. “An ex-girlfriend?”

“Got it in one.”

Hayley laughed a bit. “It couldn’t have been Kat?” Tommy shook his head. “Jemma?” He shook his head again. “Meghan?”

“Meghan? I don’t remember dating a Meghan?”

“You went on one date. I set you up, remember? She got shitfaced and puked in your car.”

“Ah. She is _not_ an ex-girlfriend. She never made it that far.”

“Well, Tom, if you don’t include girls that only got one date as ex-girlfriends, I don’t really have anyone. You dated Jemma for three months, Kat for, what, a year? The only other person you’ve ever dated is… no. No, Tom. Don’t you _dare_ _tell me that cheating **bitch** is sniffing around here._”

Tommy took a deep breath, reminding himself that Hayley was being protective. Still he found it hard to keep himself from ripping Hayley a new one after hearing her call Kim a _cheating bitch._ “I saw _Kim_.” He said, emphasizing her name.

“Well let me give you some advice right now, Tom. Stay far, _far_ away from that.”

Tommy’s temper flared. “ _Too Late._ ” The two friends glared at each other for a solid minute while Tommy tried his best to talk himself down. His right hand was squeezing into a fist and relaxing over and over when he became aware of his actions. He took a deep breath, breaking eye contact with Hayley, to close his eyes for a moment and remember how Kim’s hand had felt in his as he drove her to her apartment. He took another deep breath and relaxed his tensed shoulders before looking back at Hayley’s still stormy face.

“Look, Hayley, I’m not going to ask your permission. I am an _adult_. But if you could just bite back your absolute hatred for Kim for a minute, I’d like someone unrelated to the situation to talk this through with. And honestly, she hurt _me_ , not you. If anyone gets to be angry, it’s me. I’m not, so you need to can it.”

“You’re blind when it comes to her, Tom.” Hayley said, but relaxed back into her chair all the same, frown plastered across her face. “I’ll try to be impartial, but I will tell you if at the end I still think she’s a bitch I’d happily set fire to.”

“At least you’re loyal.” Tommy sat back too.

“So, you bumped into _her_ …”

“Yeah, when I was looking at paint. She came up to help because I’d been there for ages. She didn’t recognize me at first and she was flustered. She said she liked my glasses.”

“You’re glasses?” Hayley asked, confused. “All of your high school friends comment on your hair.”

“That’s what I said too.”

“So, she started worming her way in then?” Hayley asked a little sharply.

“No.” Tommy answered shortly. “She was completely professional and asked about what I was painting, what colors I was considering, and she helped me talk through my choices until I was able to pick one.” Tommy took a deep breath again and tried to relax. Hayley often got wound up when he did and then they would argue like siblings. “I asked her if she’d come over the next day and help me paint so we could talk. She agreed.” Tommy could tell that Hayley was just barely keeping her tongue in check, so he plowed on. “She came over yesterday. We painted all morning and she just kept asking me questions, listening to my stories, but she didn’t really say anything about herself. When we were having lunch, I saw her take some pills and she told me that she had had a few seizures a few years back.”

Hayley’s face softened a little and she frowned. She and the guy Tommy had known from college with seizures had been close friends in the same major and year.

“We did another coat of paint in the afternoon and we talked about college and our jobs. She has a degree in interior design and a blog and even a design consulting business!”

“But did you talk about your breakup? You deserve closure, Tom.”

“We did. After the second coat, I really, _really_ didn’t want her to leave. I asked her to stay over and build a blanket fort with me.”

“Don’t tell me that actually worked.”

Tommy laughed a hearty laugh. “Oh, but it did! Kim has always been up for fun things like that. We watched TV, had dinner. I didn’t have the courage to ask her until we were laying there in the dark. I don’t think she had the courage to bring it up either, but once I asked, it all came out pretty quick.”

Tommy leaned forward in his chair forearms resting against his thighs and Hayley mirrored him. “She didn’t cheat on me. There wasn’t another guy. She had-has a brain tumor, Hayley. There’s still a big chunk of it in her head that they haven’t been able to remove. She had a seizure at practice one day and they brought her to the hospital and that’s when they found it.” Tommy was surprised to find himself choking back tears again. “When she wrote the letter, she thought it was cancer.” Hayley moved from her seat to the arm rest of Tommy’s wrapping him in a hug.

“It turned out to be benign, thank God.”

“Why would she breakup with you, then? Wouldn’t she want you there with her?”

“She said she did, but that she couldn’t be selfish. She said it was more important that I focused on leading the team and beating the Machine Empire. She said no one else could have led them just then and if I had left it would have put a lot of people at risk.”

“Would it have?”

“Fuck. Yes. It would have. I just fucking hate that Kim had to sacrifice her comfort and support system because these stupid fucking aliens keep attacking this damn planet.” He sighed in frustration, using the heel of his hand to angrily wipe away the tears on his face. “She had to have been so fucking scared. She was having seizures and they were telling her that she had not just a brain tumor, but probably a cancerous one, and her parents, Jason, Trini, and Zach didn’t get to her until _after_ she had surgery. She went into brain surgery without a single person there with her. I should have known. I should have been there.”

“Tom, how could you have known?”

“That letter didn’t even sound like her. I had talked to her on the phone days before and-”

“ _And_ , from what you told me, she wanted to make sure that you stayed put and didn’t come after her.”

“She was going to tell me. Remember how I told you that she and Jase got kidnapped and turned evil? They were coming to see me so she could tell me. She had been doing better, but after we saved them, she apparently had a seizure and she saw me with Kat and thought we were happy. She said she wasn’t sorry for writing the letter and keeping me away, but she was sorry that I hadn’t been able to settle down and be happy.”

“Well, fuck. I can’t hate her now, can I?”

Tommy couldn’t help a chuckle. “I never stopped loving her, you know. And now that I know what happened, I could barely let her go when I dropped her off at her apartment.”

“She’s always had you wrapped around her finger.”

Tommy shrugged, unable to deny it. “She, uh, she told me that she’s looking into an experimental surgery to have the rest of the tumor removed. I asked to drive her to the appointment later this summer and she agreed. I’m scared, Hayley. I’m afraid that she’ll have a seizure that she won’t recover from. I’m afraid that she’ll get the surgery and they’ll hit something they shouldn’t. I’m afraid that they won’t approve her for the surgery and the tumor will grow or she’ll be depressed or push me away again. I don’t know what to do!”

“I don’t think you can do anything, Tom. You can be there for her. You can be persistent if she tries to push you away. You can drive her to her appointments and support her decisions. But Tom, this sounds like something that she knows a lot more about than either of us- she _has_ been dealing with this for almost a decade.”

Tommy nodded, trying to pull himself back together again. “I’m just so scared of losing her again.” They sat together quietly for a few minutes.

“So,” Hayley said, somewhat teasingly, trying to lighten the mood, “did you at least get laid?”

“You’ve spent too much time talking to Rocky. No, I didn’t _get laid_.”

“Well that’s a shame. Did she kiss you at least? Are you two an _item_?”

“No, not yet, at least. But that’s obviously where I’d like it to end up.” Tommy wiped at his face and then stood up, angling himself towards the computers. “And speaking of, I better go. I need to go buy a bedroom set if I want any chance of getting her into my bed the next time.” He teased back, with a smirk and raised eyebrow.

_________

Before going furniture hunting, Tommy had logged onto one of the computers at Cyberspace and had found Kim’s blog and design consulting business website. Partly due to curiosity, partly to make sure he’d pick something with a bit of her style, and partly because he didn’t have all that much of a style of his own, Tommy was hoping to pull inspiration from her designs and tips. And he had found that he really loved what she’d put together.

Kim’s style, it seemed, was full of pops of color and mostly wooden antique style furniture. She mixed old, refinished dressers with modern, brand new mirrors. Leather couches were topped with fuzzy pastel blankets and throw pillows. White walls were decorated with bulky black wood or metal frames containing antique floral prints with boldly colored mats. It was all eclectic, a little vintage, a little modern, and it had enough pops of color that he might be able to get all his colors (and her one) into his room.

With her designs firmly rooted in his head, Tommy set off to shopping, hoping that he could find things that he liked which complemented each other as well. He really, really hoped that Kim would be impressed with what he put together. 

He visited five stores, all of which he left without buying a thing, before he found a bedframe he liked at store number six.

Most bedroom sets these days were MDF, which Tommy wasn’t a fan of.

Despite what he’d said to Hayley, Tommy foresaw it being a while before he and Kim were at a place in their relationship to be doing the deed, although he was confident that they’d get there eventually. When they did, he was a little worried an MDF frame wouldn’t hold up long term. (They had, in fact, broken an MDF bed before. It was their first time and Tommy had just lost his green ranger powers for good. Kim’s mom was out of the house for the day and he and Kim had taken advantage of it. While the bed hadn’t broken _all_ the way on that afternoon, they’d heard some creaking noises. Kim was thrown from her bed at 2AM three days later when a section of the MDF headboard that held up the side bar finally gave out. While they were never actually sure if they had caused the headboard to weaken or if it was already on its way out, Tommy hadn’t trusted MDF bedframes ever again. Thus, his box spring and mattress having spent so much time on the floor.) Even if an MDF bed was built well enough and didn’t break, he knew the veneer was prone to chipping which annoyed him. Plus, if he was going to buy something that looked like wood, it might as well actually be wood.

So, Tommy had walked around stores, ignoring the MDF and gawking at the price of solid wood frames that often felt too clunky to him, even if he had been willing to spend so much.

The black wrought iron bedframe caught him by surprise. He hadn’t seen one in years, not since his grandmother had passed away when he was twelve and he’d helped take apart the twin sized wrought iron bedframe in her guest room when they cleaned out the house. But he liked the look of the one he found. It seemed solid and somewhat heavy to move due to the material, but the bars on the footboard and headboard were spread far enough apart and were created thin enough that the bed looked almost a little delicate. A little masculine, a little feminine, completely new, but somewhat antique in design.

He’d walked around the store a little longer, looking for other pieces. He hadn’t been impressed with any of the nightstands or dressers but had found a cherry wood bookcase which would fit perfectly on the wall opposite of his walk-in closet. He’d also picked up a pair of lamps. The base of each lamp consisted of ten thin black metal bars which were tightly packed together through the body but separated out at the base so the lamp could stand and at the top where the fixture for the lightbulb rested. They came with white lampshades, mostly rectangular in shape, but which still had a gradual curve and taper in the support that held the shade taunt, giving them less boxy feel. Finally, making his way over to some accessories, he’d stumbled across several mismatched throw pillows that had caught his eye. One had a white background with a green geometric design on top and a pink flamingo drawn in a watercolor style in the center on the foreground. It had amused him, and he’d picked it up immediately. There was another pillow, this one cylindrically shaped, of a similar green color, but the fabric was slightly metallic, and the pillow was wrapped with a swatch of another green fabric with a small gold diamond pattern sown into it. Finally, he’d come across a round pillow made of a pale pink velveteen gathered toward the middle and topped in the center with a matching button that was sown in. He brought all three pillows and the lamps up to the front and indicated to a salesman the bedframe and bookshelf he wanted to purchase as well. He’d come back for the larger pieces with his truck- they certainly wouldn’t fit in the Jeep, even unbuilt, and took the rest of his purchases to the car before heading off to another store.

____________

Tommy was too exhausted to finish putting his room together and ended up sleeping in the living room again.

After he’d purchased his bedframe and bookcase, he’d ended up at an antique shop where he’d been lucky enough to find a cherry wood bureau dresser, sans the original mirror, and chest of drawers that matched each other and which he could afford, although he’d have to add new hardware on the drawers as neither had a single piece. They’d put both pieces aside for him to pick up later and he’d next ended up at Walmart, where he’d found several picture frames, a flat screen TV and mounting equipment for it, and sheets for the bed. A boutique home goods store was luckily in the same plaza and he’d found some wicker baskets that would fit on the bookshelf to store odds and ends, two modern cherry wood nightstands with black metal handles on the drawers, and, finally, a simple white quilted bedspread. He’d managed to shove all his purchases from Walmart, the home goods store, and the accessories from the furniture store in the Jeep and brought it home, only to quickly unload all his purchases into the living room and trade his Jeep keys for the keys of his old white pickup truck.

He’d picked up the dressers from the antique store first, as they closed early, then had gone and picked up the bedframe and bookcase, both of which luckily were packed in flat boxes that barely fit in the bed of his truck with the dressers, but fit snuggly enough that Tommy was less worried about the dressers moving around too much and being damaged.

When he’d gotten home the second time, he’d already been tired, but knowing that rain was expected, he knew he’d have to empty his purchases out of the back of his truck as quickly as he could. The bureau, which was wider than the chest of drawers, although large and therefore awkward to move, was at least light enough once he’d realized he could remove the drawers. He’d put it, drawers stacked on top, just at the bottom of the stairs in the living room, realizing he was going to have to beg Hayley to come over to help him get it up the stairs. He then did the same with the taller chest of drawers. The bookcase was next. The box was heavy, considering that it was wood and not MDF, and he’d only just barely gotten it into the foyer before he’d partially dropped the box on his foot. Limping back out to the truck, Tommy couldn’t even move the box for the bedframe because of the weight. He finally decided to cut the box open and take each piece of the frame in one or two at a time, managing to get all of these up into the bedroom. By time he was removing the footboard- the last piece remaining in the box, the heavens opened up and he was caught in a downpour.

Tommy had then taken a bit of a break to eat the leftover Thai takeout from the night before, put on dry clothes, and called Hayley, who agreed to come over the next afternoon for a while to help him out. Then it was back to work.

With all the pieces of the bedframe upstairs, he thought it best to tackle putting them together first. Easier said than done, the frame was amazingly hard to put together alone and Tommy spent as much time jerry rigging boxes and piles of clothes to hold up parts of the frame and make them level as he did actually fastening one piece to another. It took him a full hour to put the bedframe together and his back was starting to feel like it belonged to a 90-year-old.

He’d opened the box for the bookcase next, bringing the shelves up in three trips then going back and bringing the sides up one at a time. This was simpler to put together, but it still took ages as Tommy had to spend a half hour searching the spare bedroom, basement, outside shed, then finally the basement base for his electric drill and a level. Once his mislaid tools had been collected, it only took Tommy half an hour to get the bookcase put together, stood up, and secured to the wall.

He’d struggled the night stands up the stairs next, setting each on a side of the bedframe, then had tried to struggle the box spring back down the hallway to his room.

It was too much. He was too tired, his back was sore, and his foot was throbbing. He’d ask Hayley to help him with that the next day too if he was still too worn out in the morning.

Resigned to have to sleep downstairs but not yet feeling like he could sleep with so much left to do, Tommy dragged the dresser drawers upstairs, spreading them out on the floor outside the walk-in closet and sorting through the clothes still in boxes, folded in baskets, and those which had been in his old dresser drawers which he had dumped on the floor. He filled his new dresser drawers one at a time, putting them in order so that he’d be able to just slip the drawers in the chest of drawers once it made its way upstairs. Tommy set the still empty drawers of the bureau off to the side. He was hoping that one day in the not-so-distant future, Kim’s clothes would fill them.

___________

Not twenty minutes after Tommy had left Cyberspace to begin shopping, Hayley recognized the new face that slipped in through the front door, just behind a gaggle of teenagers who were regulars. Kimberly hadn’t aged much at all from all the teenaged pictures Tommy had kept and Hayley had seen. The woman looked a little unsure as she entered, scanning the café with a slightly uneasy smile, before making her way up to one of the stools at the far end of the counter, waiting patiently while Hayley dealt with other patrons near the register. Once their orders had been put in, Hayley took a deep breath and walked over to the subject of Tommy’s eternal crush, reminding herself of what Tommy had told her earlier that morning.

“Kimberly.” She said, not kindly, but not with the venom she probably would have otherwise either.

Kimberly looked both a little surprised and confused for a moment before her face lit up in recognition, a big smile breaking out. “You must be Hayley! Oh, the picture Tommy has up of his graduation for his PhD, you were in it too! I knew your face looked familiar!” Hayley couldn’t help the little grin that made its way across her face, prompted both by Kim’s infectious brightness and her acknowledging a picture Hayley both fondly remembered being in and which she knew was prominently displayed in Tommy’s living room. “He said you have a PhD in cybersecurity. You and Billy must get on like a house on fire!”

She and Billy _did_ get on like a house on fire. In fact, Tommy had nixed one of her and Billy’s transporter design attempts after they had almost set his back deck alight. Mentally shaking her head, that was a story for another time, Hayley instead responded with, “if you’re looking for Tom, he isn’t here.”

Kim’s smile suddenly faltered, and she reached up and began playing with the silver charm on the necklace she was wearing. “I’m sorry,” she said, looking down. “Tommy said that you’re sort of his pseudo-big sister, so that means he must have told you what I did to break up with him all those years ago. I want you to know that I didn’t actually cheat on him. I know how I must sound like I’m just trying to save my own skin, but I really didn’t. I was just sick, and I didn’t want him to have to deal with it and he had his, well, _job_ that he really couldn’t leave. God, you must absolutely hate me for what I did to him. _I_ hate me most days. I just…” Hayley reached out, grabbing Kim’s forearm, trying to get her attention and to calm her ramble.

“I don’t hate you.” Hayley said firmly. “I did when I came in here this morning, but Tom was just in here and he told me that you two talked about the breakup and some of the details about your illness. I can understand trying to protect him from that, even if I don’t agree with the two of you that no one else was capable of taking his place at his job. Just understand, if you _ever_ do something like that to him again, I _will_ hunt you down, _and there will be no place in this solar system where you’ll be able to hide from me._ ”

Kim gave her a watery smile. “That seems fair. I’m glad Tommy has someone looking out for him. I know Jason does too, but he knew about everything I was going through, so I don’t think he was ever really there for Tommy the way he should have been- taking his side completely. Tommy deserves to have someone who backs him up without reservation.”

Hayley sighed, trying to fit this Kim with the Kim that Tom had always described to her. Tom and Billy, the only Rangers that had ever discussed Kim with her, had both described Kim as sensitive to the feelings and opinions of her friends, but often a little selfish and oblivious to the hurt she caused others. She was confident and could scale any obstacle, according to the two men. This woman in front of her, while still the outgoing, infectious ray of sunshine she had always heard described, was also incredibly down on herself and almost seemed desperate for both approval and reprimand in equal measure.

Still, not knowing what to say, Hayley changed the subject again. “Well, I’ll take it that you didn’t know that Tom was going to be here earlier, so if you didn’t come to see him, what brought you here?”

“Oh, I was hoping to get a strawberry and peanut butter smoothie. Tommy said yours are really good. I figured that might help hold me over on my shift. Helping Tommy paint yesterday meant I never made it out to go food shopping. It might be good if I had something in my stomach now because all I had left to put together for lunch today was a sandwich and some celery sticks.” She held up a paper bag, as evidence.

“I can’t say I’ve heard of too many people wanting peanut butter in their strawberry smoothie,” Hayley said, already gathering the ingredients and a blender.

Kim shrugged, “I had it a lot in the hospital. Protein, water, and sugar all at once, so it’s efficient. It was one of the only things I could keep down for a while.” Kim admitted. “But it is really tasty.”

Hayley walked away for a moment to set the smoothie up to blend, coming back to talk to Kim while they waited. “You know, I _have_ spent a decent amount of time with Billy and he’s talked about you, but he only ever mentioned you when you were you both young or Rangers…”

“How is Billy?” Kim asked. “I haven’t seen or talked to anyone from that group outside of Jason, Trini, Aisha, and Zach since before… well…”

“You haven’t been in contact with any of the rest of them at all?”

“No. I was trying to keep Tommy from being hurt even more by this,” she made a sweeping motion with one hand, indicating her head, “and they all would have told him. Plus, by time they stopped being Rangers, they all moved out of their parents’ houses, so I didn’t know how to contact them. I could have asked Jason, but it’s been my intention not to say anything until this tumor is gone once and for all.”

“And now?”

“I’m not sure Tommy will give me the option. He’s persistent.”

“That’s what he’s always said about you.”

Kim smiled at that and sat up a little straighter, although she did blush a little. Hayley turned back to the blender and seeing that it was the correct consistency, walked over and shut it off, bringing the blender pitcher and a disposable cup with her.

“You should, talk to them all, I mean. Billy has been vocal about missing you and being concerned about how you were doing. The others haven’t really said too much about you around me, I guess because if we’re in the same room Tom is there too, but I’ve heard enough to know that they are concerned too.” Hayley poured the smoothie and put a lid on top, accepting the money that Kim handed over in payment. “They’re all doing okay though. Billy helped Tom and I with some tech last fall,” she added a meaningful look to this, which Kim seemed to understand.

“That has always been his forte.”

“He and Kat have gotten together and broken up like three times. I think they’re on again right now. It’s just the distance, I think, that throws them off. He’s based out here, but Kat has a principal part in a touring ballet. I know she just auditioned for a permanent ballet company in LA, but she’s also talked about opening her own dance school if that doesn’t work out. I can’t see her teaching but not performing though, so we’ll see. I probably see those two the most. I’ve met Adam and Tanya maybe three times, so I couldn’t tell you much about them, although Tom says they’ve just bought a house together. Rocky only lives about forty-five minutes away, so he comes around now and then, especially last summer, takes over Tom’s kitchen and grill and gives him hell about his total lack of culinary expertise. It’s always great because Rocky calls all the Rangers in the area and he calls me and we just show up at Tom’s house.”

“I’m sure he just loves that. He might be a leader, but Tommy has always been an introvert and he definitely does not like when people invade his space without invitation.”

“But that’s what makes it so fun.”

Kim rolled her eyes but smiled. She caught sight of the clock behind Hayley. “I better go. I have a pretty decent walk to get to work. It was nice meeting you, Hayley. Thanks for this,” she held up her smoothie. “I’ll see you around?”

“Yes, I would imagine so.”

_____

Tommy spent the next morning pushing the box spring and mattress down the hallway, finally able to move them after getting some rest the night before and was able to make his bed up with the new sheets, bedspread, and decorative pillows. He brought some of the other accessories, new and old, into the room as well, putting the lamps atop the nightstands and placing empty picture frames on the bookcase shelves and on top of the nightstands. He’d have to figure what pictures he wanted in those. He pulled his alarm clock out of the closet where he had stashed most of his stuff when he cleared the room to paint and added that to the nightstand nearest the door. He pulled the artifacts from his past Ranger life together and displayed them here and there on the bookcase, interspersed in between books he could finally put away, the picture frames, a few martial arts trophies that were particularly special to him, and two stacks of magazines- one for past issues of _Geology Quarterly_ and one for _Paleontology Update._ He put the two baskets he had bought on the lowest shelf, putting a shoebox full of pictures, postcards, and other memorabilia in one and filling the other with several pieces of paperwork- his high school diploma- still in the padded folder it had been given to him in, a copy of his completed Master’s thesis, both a draft and complete bound copy of his Doctoral dissertation, several letters from Kim that he had received over their years of dating which were tied together in a bundle, and several family heirlooms- a diamond and emerald bracelet, earring, and necklace set that had been gifted to his paternal grandmother by his paternal grandfather on the occasion of his adoptive father’s birth, his biological mother’s engagement ring, given to him by his brother David, and a book containing a family tree and written family history, given to him by Sam Trueheart.

Tommy opened the box for the TV mounting unit next, then quickly decided to wait for Hayley’s help lest he break his brand-new TV, but did bring the TV, still in its box, upstairs. With most things put together, Tommy went downstairs and browsed the internet for a while, finding a rug he liked that he could put beneath the bed, a comfortable looking vintage-style re-creation chair that he’d decided to put on the wall next to the bookcase for a comfortable spot to read, and a large, round mirror encased in a thin black metal frame with a decorative rope coming up from either side and meeting above it. It was rather nautical, but Tommy felt it would work rather well with the space and he liked that the raw rope might provide a little texture. He ordered all three, paying for express shipping. He wanted to see Kim again rather quickly, but he didn’t want to bring her back to the house until he could show her a completed room.

With hours left until Hayley would arrive to help him with the dressers and TV, Tommy pulled his two old dressers into other rooms- the smaller one went into the room closest to his which was the one filled with unpacked boxes, while the larger one went across the hall from the first in the second largest bedroom upstairs, which he intended to be the first to be turned into a guest room.

With this completed, Tommy wandered to the room furthest from his own, which was also the smallest bedroom in the house. It had originally been an enclosed porch which a previous owner had, at some point, fully converted by adding insulation, changing the door, and adding heat and air to. It had some of the best light in the house and a beautiful view of the front garden and the wooded area beyond that. Tommy had never been quiet sure what to do with the room but had always thought a dusky pink would suit this room well, especially with how the walls above the west facing windows would so seamlessly blend into a sunset with such a color on them. Perhaps, one day, Kim would have a use for this room.

Pleased with the work he’d gotten done, Tommy went back to his room and pulled out the shoebox of photos, slowly sifting through them for pictures he’d want to display.

________

Tommy was a little disappointed when, that evening after Hayley had left, he went to the paint store to find a light grey color that would suit both the upstairs hallway and guest bathroom but didn’t find Kim there. He tried not to be too disappointed- he had spent almost ten years without seeing her, a full day was no time at all. Instead of letting it get to him too much, he bought the grey paint, several gallons of the same white paint he had bought for his room- all of the ceilings needed a new coat, and a gallon of a dusky sunset pink color that had looked to be the exact hue of the sunset outside.

Getting home, Tommy ate dinner, showered, and got into bed early so he could spend some time messing with the new TV now mounted on the wall. Before he settled in, he opened his cellphone, selecting the recently programed _Kim Hart_ from his contacts list and sent her a message.

_Hey Kim. I hope you had a good day. This room is starting to come together and I’m finally getting to sleep in my bed again. You’ll be proud- it’s not even on the floor! I went to the shop and heard you had an early shift this morning. I’m sorry I missed you. I found some paint for the hallway and guest bathroom and I think I’d like to try to start them the middle of next week. I want to get all the ceilings upstairs repainted and work on replacing a couple of things in that bathroom before I get to painting walls again. Any interest in painting and a movie night sometime middle/end of next week? Sleep well._ _😊_

Tommy feel asleep, the local late news playing quietly on his TV screen before Kim responded.

_Hi Tommy. It was a long day- I have a consulting client who can’t make up her mind about anything, so there was my entire afternoon, but the issue is resolved, so I’m at least feeling accomplished. I am very proud of you for not sleeping on the floor and I’m excited to see how that room looks with dried paint and furniture in it! I have to be in really early next Thursday- like 4AM, to take a delivery at work, but I’m free the rest of that day and off on Friday. I work opening shift on Saturday. Let me know what works best for you; I’d love to help paint more._

_________

The pair decided that Tommy would pick Kim up from her apartment an hour after her shift on Thursday. They continued to text each other at regular intervals for the rest of the weekend and first half of the next week, catching each other up on the happenings of their years spent apart, suggesting possible colors for different rooms, and updating each other on their days.

On Monday in the late afternoon they had quiet accidently run into each other at the Hayley’s Cyberspace Café, where Kim had stopped post workday for a coffee and Tommy had gone to looking for some sort of human contact as he’d realized that he had been holed up in his house working on fixing up the hall bathroom and painting all of the ceilings upstairs white for over thirty hours without actually seeing another human being.

Tommy had offered to drive Kim back to her apartment and she, in turn, had offered to make him dinner. That’s how Kim ended up leaning against the counter next to the stove in her studio apartment, watching Tommy leaning up against the side of her bed as he looked through the movies and books she stored in a short bookshelf that also served as her nightstand; Tommy providing a continued commentary, talking about the movies she owned that he had seen and books she had that he had also read.

He’d eventually moved on, surprised at the clothes hung on a freestanding bar next to a decently sized dresser. (“That’s really all the clothes you have- those couple hanging and that dresser? Isn’t that a closet over there?” “Yes, but it’s the only place I could store everything for my consulting business.”) After a meal of baked chicken, green beans, and mashed potatoes, Kim opened her work closet and let Tommy pull down books of swatches, open bins of tile and floor samples, and look through several design plans she had sketched, answering questions as he asked them.

By the time they were done, it was still early, so they sat down to watch a movie, Tommy picking _Haunted Honeymoon_ since Kim had mentioned it previously. Afterwards, Tommy figured it was time to go, knowing that several items were due to be delivered to his house early in the morning.

“Kim,” he asked as he was putting his shoes on to leave. “Do me a favor and let me know on Thursday when you get into work. There hasn’t been that much crime in Reefside, petty or otherwise, since the monster attacks started, but I’ll still rest better knowing that you got in okay.” He moved toward the door, Kim following him to lock up behind him.

“I will, Tommy. Have a good night.” She pushed herself up on her toes, hand pressed against his arm for balance and deposited a quick chaste kiss on his cheek. “I’ll see you on Thursday.”

Tommy dreamt about that kiss for the next three nights, laughing at himself in the mornings for being so affected by a friendly peck from a woman he had kissed properly, made out with, and slept with when they were younger.

Still, this was one of his favorite kisses. Getting closure on the breakup and finding out the real reasons behind the letter had been an ending. That kiss, simple as it was, finally felt like a beginning.


	3. A Touch of Grey

Kim stared critically at herself in the bathroom mirror. She’d been awake at 3AM to get ready for work, having had only five hours of sleep and now, at almost 1PM, she looked worse for the wear. She tried to add a little more concealer under her left eye, but it somehow only made her face look worse and the bags under her eyes more pronounced. With a sigh of frustration, Kim picked up the bar of soap and began scrubbing at her face. It was no use wearing makeup if it was only going to make it all worse. Makeup free, she rubbed some Noxzema on her face, hoping that it might help her a least feel more awake, even if it did nothing to make her look better. Face covered in the cold cream and tingling, she went out to the living room to check that she had what she needed, knowing that Tommy would be there soon.

On her couch sat her purse which she knew held her properly filled pill organizer. She had counted the pills out last night before bed. She had packed the rest of her meds for today, tomorrow, and Saturday, just to be safe. Next to her purse sat an old gymnastics duffle bag that she hadn’t used in years, except to fill with stuff every time she moved. However, it had been just the perfect size to hold a pair of pajamas, a toothbrush and some toiletries, a spare set of clothes, and a sweatshirt. She felt a little presumptuous taking a change of clothes with her, but it felt better to be prepared so she wasn’t caught with Tommy washing her clothes like last time. Finally, there was a gift bag- a housewarming present for Tommy, even if he had been living there for a year.

Kim went over to her refrigerator, opening the freezer and removing an ice pack. A cold compress might, she thought, help calm her under eye bags. She went back to the bathroom, washed the cold cream off and dried her face before going back out the main room and flopped down on her bed, ice pack over her eyes, hoping Tommy might be a little late so her face could have time to fix itself.

No such luck.

She’d only been laying down for three minutes when she heard the knock on the door. Kim groaned, pulling herself up from the bed and dropping the ice pack on the counter next to the refrigerator as she reached for the front door. Tommy stood smiling on the other side, perfectly on time.

“Damn, what ever happened to you being late for everything?”

“I’m so excited to show you how the bedroom turned out- I had to be on time.” He said. His smiled dropped and he frowned. “Are you okay Kim? You look-”

“Like crap?”

“I was going to just say a little flushed.”

“Yeah. I’m fine. It was just because it was such an early morning.” Kim turned, walking further into her apartment as Tommy followed. “My face isn’t cooperating.”

“I think your face looks beautiful.”

“You just said I was flushed, _and_ you frowned at me.”

“Just because I recognize when your coloring is off, and I’m concerned doesn’t mean I can’t still find your face beautiful.”

“You’re a flatterer.”

“Is it working?”

Kim laughed. “Maybe a little.”

“Good. Are you ready to head out or did you need some more time? I’m okay to sit for a while.”

“No, no. I’m alright to go. I think I’ve given up on makeup for the rest of the day.” Kim went over to the couch, Tommy again trailing her, and picked up her purse and the gift bag. Tommy reached out and picked up her duffle bag before she could shift her other bags to grab it as well.

Kim shoved the ice pack back in the freezer on their way out the door. Tommy stood patiently by her as she dug in her purse for her keys and locked the door, and within a minute, Kim was again in the front passenger seat of the Jeep, left hand encased in Tommy’s right, and they were on the road toward his house.

_________

Kim was amused at just how giddy Tommy was. He had almost quite literally dragged her through the house and up the stairs to his room; she’d barely managed to keep her feet and she hadn’t had even a second to drop her purse or the gift bag or to take her duffle from Tommy. Once they stood in the hallway, in front of the closed door to his master suite, Tommy maneuvered Kim in front of him and encouraged her to open the door and go in, so she did.

Damn, she did love this color.

She had been right that in the sunlight the jewel tones of the color would shine through. There weren’t currently any curtains on any of the windows; Tommy had admitted in the car that it was the one thing he hadn’t managed to make a decision on. Blackout curtains made the room too dark, but he wasn’t sure if sheers would be enough. The sunlight streaming in made Kim agree with Tommy- blackout curtains would take too much away from this room.

She noticed the hardwood floors next. While she had known from Tommy that there was already hardwood, it had already been covered up with the drop cloth the last time she had been in this room and she had never gotten to see them. These floors, she thought, were beautiful. People rarely let the wood remain its natural color, always staining it, but the previous owners had left the wood with all its original variances in color and only put a clear sealing coat on top. Tommy had left the floors the same and they made the room look brighter, balancing out the dark walls.

Looking to her right as she walked in, Kim saw a new bookcase in a cherry finish. It was still a bit empty, but she was excited to see that he was displaying several pieces from his Ranger days, even if they were things that only Rangers would recognize as being such. She glanced at the titles on his shelf, seeing some of the books she had copies of that Tommy had spoken about earlier in the week when he’d first visited her apartment. There were several pictures- one of him wearing graduation robes with his parents stood on either side of him- his PhD, if she were correct; one of Tommy, Hayley, and a quartet of teens- the Dino Thunder Rangers, she correctly assumed; one of child Tommy beaming as he received a martial arts trophy, the trophy in question displayed right beside it, and pictures of the Zeo and first Turbo teams, both in civilian clothes.

Kim had to force a smile that had been genuine up to that point. It hurt a little that those teams were in his bedroom while the teams she and Tommy had shared were displayed downstairs. Yes, they might be seen by more people, but something in her made her believe that the pictures in his bedroom were far more important and closer to his heart than the ones for public consumption downstairs.

_But you are actually physically in his room right now and none of those other Rangers are,_ she reminded herself. _That has to mean something._

Kim glanced to her left at what she knew was the walk-in closet. She was pleased to see that he’d finally managed to remove clothes from the moving boxes that had sat in the middle of the floor and that he’d also bought a shoe rack where he’d organized the dozen or so pairs he had. His closet was less than a quarter full and yet everything was pushed together in one section. She made a mental note to ask about it later and to tell him that with so much space, it wouldn’t hurt to spread out his clothes.

Kim felt Tommy’s hand on the small of her back, gently urging her further into the room. Just past the bookshelf, the room opened to the right, a comfortable looking light mint green chair immediately around the corner from the bookshelf. It had a merino wool throw blanket draped over the back- a pale peach colored background with green, pink, white, red, brown, lilac, and yellow woven in.

On the same wall, he’d hung a flat screen TV.

Taking up the most space was his king-sized bed, finally lifted off the ground by a black wrought iron bedframe. A carpet in various shades of green with a good bit of white and black thrown in, was underneath.

The headboard was pushed up against the wall of windows perpendicular to the wall with the TV, so the bedframe was perfect as it didn’t block light from the windows behind it. Kim liked that he’d decided on a simple white bedspread, although she could see that some repetitive design was sewn in to give it some character and texture. She laughed when she saw the decorative pillows on the bed. “A pink flamingo?”

“It has a white and green background,” Tommy defended.

“And the pink pillow?”

“Complimented the flamingo. I just liked the green pillow.”

On either side of the bed sat a cherry wood nightstand, each with matching lamps. Tommy’s glasses had made it upstairs, it seemed, as they lay on the nightstand closer to the door, on top of a notepad and next to an alarm clock. There was also a picture frame and Kim had to move closer to the bed to see what it contained as it was angled away from her as she walked in. She picked it up and smiled, genuinely again, as she saw a picture of the original team having a picnic by the Angel Grove lake. In it, Billy sat to the far left, a pinched look on his face as he adjusted his glasses. Trini sat next to him and was mid-sneeze when the picture was taken. Zack sat next to Trini and was looking off to the left, seeing something off camera past Billy. Kim was next both hands on either side of her very red face, knees being drawn up towards her chest as if she was hoping to make herself very small. Tommy, who was next in line, had his arm around her shoulders and he was laughing but also red faced and his other hand was scratching at the side of his neck, a sure sign, at least at the time, that he was embarrassed. Jason, the last in the picture, was sitting next to Tommy, mid-eye roll, looking slightly disgusted.

“Jason told us to get a room.” Tommy reminded.

“And you said that we’d have to wait until my mom, or your parents went out of town again.”

“I wasn’t thinking.”

“Bullshit. Once Jason caught us making out in the command center that one day, you said something any time the opportunity presented itself to make him uncomfortable.”

“Yeah. It was great.” Tommy admitted wistfully. Kim started laughing- it always had been fun to use their relationship to gross out Jason. None of the others ever seemed even remotely bothered, but it always had riled Jason up. “But I really didn’t mean to say anything that day. I gave Jason a little more information than I intended. I’ll have you know that he was particularly aggressive in our spars for the next two weeks or so.”

“He stopped saying stuff like that after that though. At least I didn’t hear him again.” Kim put the picture back on the nightstand, butterflies in her stomach knowing that Tommy slept with that picture so close. “It’s a great picture. I have another picture from that day of us all smiling and leaning into each other. I don’t think I even knew that picture existed.”

“I’ve been keeping it secret. It’s my intention to make a ton of copies at some point, go over to Jason’s house and plaster an entire room with it.”

“I’m sure Trini will love that too.”

“Eh, she sneezed gracefully, just as she does everything else.” This set them both laughing, so it was another minute before Kim continued her exploration of the room.

Tommy’s master bathroom was right next to the walk-in closet although the door was further down the wall, so it was about even with one corner of the bed. Past the end of the bathroom wall, the room opened up further on the left where Kim found an antique chest of drawers and a matching antique bureau which was missing its mirror. A small bonsai tree in a short but wide white pot sat on top of it in the center. Over top of the bureau a round nautical style mirror had been hung and Tommy had put up several more pictures on either side of it. A photo of him, in white, and Jason after a tournament was hung on the top left. Tommy, Kim, Billy, Aisha, Adam, and Rocky sat around a table at the juice bar just below the first picture. On the top right he had a picture of Trini, Jason, Billy, and Zack sitting and smiling in the foreground while Kim was practicing on the beam in the background, upside down in a handstand. Finally, the last picture to the bottom right of the mirror showed Kim, Tommy, and Billy on the right; Aisha, Rocky, and Adam on the left; and in the middle sat Trini and Zack, Jason standing behind the pair. It was too dark in the background to make out the location, but Kim remembered the photo. Alpha had taken it in the command center just after Trini, Zack, and Jason had transferred their powers to their successors. 

“This is beautiful, Tommy! I love your furniture choices,” she said, running her hands over the bureau and smiling at his reflection in the mirror.

“Does it get your seal of approval? I have to admit that I looked at your blog and tried to emulate it.”

Kim frowned, “It’s not me who needs to approve of it, Tommy. It’s _your_ room in _your_ house.”

“Yeah, but _I’m_ not the one with an interior design degree in this dynamic duo, am I?” His voice was teasing. “Plus, I have essentially no direction when it comes to decorating and very little idea of what I like. I liked a bunch of rooms you had in your portfolio. They looked lived-in but refined at the same time. They’re all very adult but in a slightly whimsical way which I liked. And I liked the idea of all the antique or antique style furniture. With meeting my brother and learning about my family I’ve found myself drawn to things with a lot of history.”

“You do study fossils.”

“Well, I mean history related to people, but yeah, I guess that sort of history too.”

Tommy put down Kim’s duffle bag, which he had still been holding, in front of the bureau below the windows on the perpendicular wall. Kim put her purse next to it and held out the gift bag to Tommy. “A housewarming present. I know you’ve been here a while, but I feel like it counts since you are just getting to redoing everything. It’s not much.”

Tommy went over to the bed, sitting down, and Kim sat herself on the mint green chair across from him. “Ohhhh, this is comfy,” she said as she settled into it. Tommy smiled at her and reached in to pull out the tissue paper. He reached in again and pulled out an orange scented candle in a glass tumbler jar. “I know you said no orange in your house, but it smells so good and I thought it might be a nice little pop of color after you told me that you were going to paint the hall bathroom light grey and leave it pretty monotone.”

“I think I’ll be okay with orange candles and accents. Just no orange paint. I will not have any more orange paint.”

Tommy reach in again, pulling out another candle, this one was white in a turquoise tinted glass tumbler. “That one’s eucalyptus scented. I figured it would go with your green room here, but I thought buying a green candle would be in bad taste.”

Tommy laughed. “You should tell Jason that. He must have bought green candles in bulk. Every year for Christmas, my birthday, sometimes randomly in the mail, and any time he wants to send me congratulations for something, I get a half burned down green candle. Sometimes it’s in a jar. Sometimes it’s a pillar candle or a taper. And he’s sent me almost every scent you can think of making a green candle for… green apple, pine, mint…”

“At least you don’t have a fear of them?”

“Not anymore, I don’t. I have to burn them, or I’ll never get rid of them, so it doesn’t faze me so much now. I did not think it was funny the first time he gave me one.”

“Which was when?”

“My first birthday after I moved to white.”

“That jerk.” Kim laughed. “Have you said anything to Jason yet? About us bumping into each other, I mean?”

“No. Have you?”

“No. I’m sort of trying to avoid both him and Trini at the moment.”

“Why?”

“The wedding.”

“Why? Did something happen? Jason told me that Trini was going to ask you to be Maid of Honor.”

“That’s why I’m avoiding them,” Kim said looking away. “I turned her down and they aren’t taking ‘no’ for an answer.”

“Why don’t you want to be Maid of Honor? I know you and Trini had some sort of pact about that. I know Aisha was less than pleased.”

Kim sighed. “Well, part of it was that I hadn’t seen you or a bunch of the others in so long. And with how I left things, I didn’t want to make things awkward.”

“But you and I are good now. I mean, it might still be awkward with some of the other guys for a minute, but I think your nerves are exaggerating things. We’ve all missed you. Everyone would be so excited to see you!” Kim didn’t respond immediately, so Tommy continued, “but there’s something else, isn’t there?”

“Yeah. With them getting married in October, I just don’t think it’s a good idea for me to agree to be in the wedding party at all, let alone as someone so important as Maid of Honor. I mean, my neurologist told me that if the neurosurgeon decides to do the surgery for me, it’ll probably be scheduled for around a month to six weeks after my appointment. So, I might be having that surgery in August or September. There’s a chance that I still won’t be able to really do much on my own by October fifteenth. It wouldn’t be fair to Trini for me to accept that part when I might not be able to do everything I should be doing.”

Tommy set the bag and candles aside on his bed and stepped over to Kim, kneeling in front of her, grabbing her hands. “I think Trini and Jason would want you to be Maid of Honor even if they do need to delegate tasks differently than they would have otherwise. Do they know about the surgery?”

Kim shook her head. “I didn’t really want to tell anyone until I knew whether it was happening or not.”

“Well, tell them about it anyway. Probably better not to wait. I have no doubt that they’ll work around it. What else?”

“If I have the surgery, I’ll be bald or close to it. I’ll make all the pictures look ridiculous.”

Tommy scoffed. “The pictures will only look ridiculous if Jason’s little sister and Trini’s best friend isn’t in them,” he countered. “Kim, you are beautiful, and I have no doubt that you will be just as beautiful temporarily bald.”

“You say that, but I already have one scar on the back of my head, and I’ll have another one healing that’ll probably need a big bandage on it.”

“Which you won’t be able to see in any picture with you facing the camera.”

Kim crossed her arms and huffed. “While I appreciate you trying to make me feel better, I feel awful when I’m bald. I can’t go outside without a hat on; it’s too embarrassing otherwise. It’s not like I can wear a beanie with a formal dress.”

Tommy reached up, running his fingers through Kim’s hair which she was wearing loose. It was longer than she had worn it when they were younger, falling seven or eight inches below the line of her shoulders. “What about a wig?”

“I looked into that last time. I couldn’t find something that was close enough to my natural color. I felt like I looked ridiculous wearing some other person’s hair on my head.”

Tommy gave a quiet hum. “My mom has a friend from college who makes wigs professionally. Maybe we could talk to her about using your hair to make you a wig? Before the surgery we could go and have it cut off, and we could give it to her. It would probably be a good bit shorter than how you’re wearing it now, but if she thinks she could work with your hair…”

“I might not look so ridiculous in pictures and I could cover my scar and the new incision.” Kim agreed. “If you can get me in contact with her, I’d love to hear if she could do anything with this.”

“I’ll ask my mom for her number, but only if you call Trini and tell her you’ll be her Maid of Honor and tell them both about your surgery.”

“But I don’t _know_ yet- “

“You should tell them anyway as a precaution. Come on, Kim. You know you want to be in the wedding. You’d be heartbroken later if you aren’t in it and you’ll never forgive yourself if you don’t go at all. Plus, if you’re Maid of Honor, you’ll get to walk with me.”

“Do I get a dance out of this?”

“Absolutely. Want to split a hotel room?”

“Sounds cost efficient, but probably only night of. I think I’ll be expected to stay with Trini the night before.”

Tommy laughed. “Okay, night of the wedding. It’s a deal then?” He reached out his hand, which Kim took and gave a firm shake before dissolving into giggles.

“So,” she said once she had calmed, “I told you why I haven’t said anything to Jason about us meeting. What’s keeping you quiet?”

“I’m hoping for maximum impact. Can I convince you not to say anything and we’ll just show up at the wedding together and announce that we are going back to our room and it’ll blow his mind?”

“If you’re making me tell him about my possible surgery and I do actually have it, it might come up that we know each other again sooner than the wedding, but I am willing to keep quiet and bide our time.”

Tommy leaned over giving Kim a quick kiss on the cheek as she had done to him earlier in the week. _It’s just a friendly, completely platonic kiss._ She reminded her racing heart. _Don’t get your hopes up._

_______

“Who ever thought that puke green shag carpet was a good idea?” Kim asked halfway through the first coat of paint in the hallway.

Tommy, carefully painting around the door trim in the hall bathroom on the other side of the wall, shrugged. “It is hideous. Don’t feel bad if you get paint on it. It might actually improve it until I go and pull it out.”

“What are you going to put here instead?”

“I’m torn.” Tommy admitted, peaking around the door frame. Kim had some paint on her cheek. It was cute. “There is some hardwood under there, but it’s pretty damaged in some places along the edges from what I’ve seen. If it’s not too bad in the center of the floor, maybe I can replace pieces and refinish it all together. If it looks too bad, though, I guess I need to find new carpet. Something more durable and no shag though.”

“What about the other bedrooms?”

“I haven’t pulled back the carpet yet to look at any of them. I’d love to have hardwoods throughout the entire floor, but we’ll see. The master is wood and if nothing else, that’s enough for me.”

Kim hummed her agreement, then let out a big yawn. “Ugh. I’m sorry. Excuse me.”

Tommy looked around the door frame again at Kim. She looked exhausted, not that he was going to voice that with how down on her looks she had been today. “Sleepy?”

“Yeah, I’m sorry. I think my early morning is getting to me. I can power through though. I’ll be okay.”

“Well, it’s getting close to dinner time anyway. How about I finish around the trim in here and then I’ll come out and help you finish the hallway. Once we’re done, I can start dinner and you can wash up. After dinner we can relax and if you fall asleep early, I won’t hold it against you. We can do the second coat tomorrow.”

Kim agreed. After another ten minutes, Tommy rejoined Kim in painting the hallway and it was quick work after that. Forty-five minutes later, Tommy sent Kim to his bathroom. “There’s already a towel out for you on the counter. You can take a shower if you’d prefer, but dinner will take me at least thirty minutes, so if you wanted to soak in the tub, you’re welcome to it. It doesn’t get nearly enough use. There’s bubble bath under the sink too if you’d want it. Just don’t fall asleep.”

___________

Kim had every intention of just taking a shower when she re-entered Tommy’s room and retrieved her pajamas from her duffle bag, but the clawfoot tub looked too inviting and the bubble bath under the sink was a lovely vanilla and lavender scent. She couldn’t resist.

She luxuriated in the bath for a good twenty minutes before she decided that she better get out before Tommy came looking for her, so she quickly ducked under the water to wet her hair, washed and rinsed it, then scrubbed the paint off her arms and face with the bar of soap and washcloth Tommy had also left out. She got out, pulling the plug so the tub would drain and was just starting to dress herself when she heard the knock on the door.

“Are you still awake in there?”

“Yes, I’ll be out in a few minutes. I just got out of the tub.”

“Alright. I’ll be downstairs. Dinner is almost ready. Yell if you need anything.”

Kim finished getting dressed then went back out to her bag to deposit the clothes she had been wearing and to fish out a comb to work through the tangles in her hair. She was sitting on the edge of the now-drained tub at this pursuit when Tommy came back upstairs. She’d detangled the front and ends, but there was a spot just at the back of her head that she was having trouble working through. Without a word, Tommy came in the open door of the bathroom, took the comb and stood Kim up, standing behind her to work the knots out himself.

“I miss my long hair most days, but I have to admit that I don’t miss having to work out the knots at all.”

Once Kim’s hair was detangled, they went downstairs to eat the burgers, corn on the cob, and baked potatoes that Tommy had prepared, chatting all the while about Jason and Trini’s upcoming wedding and coming up with outlandish ways that they could reveal that they were friends again. If the goal was to give Jason an aneurism, they had several options.

________

“It’s really not a big deal. I don’t mind sleeping on the couch.”

“You are not sleeping on the couch, Kim. You have a brain tumor.”

“Which has absolutely nothing to do with sleeping on couches.”

Tommy turned to face Kim, who was sitting in the doorway to the hall bathroom where he was currently adding the second coat of paint to the walls. They’d decided to leave the next coat for the hallway until tomorrow. “Kim, I am not letting you sleep on the couch when I have a perfectly good bed.”

“Which you are used to sleeping in alone. I’d be encroaching on your space.”

“One, it would only be encroachment if I didn’t give you permission to be there, which I already have. Two, it’s a king size bed. Even if I slept spread out like a starfish, which I never do, I wouldn’t be able to sleep on the whole bed all at once. Three, when did you learn words like ‘encroach’? You definitely didn’t have a vocabulary like that when we were teenagers and you already told me that you haven’t been talking to or hanging out with Billy.”

Kim shrugged. “The public library is walking distance. I read a lot more.”

Tommy refilled the roller and turned to continue painting. “Kim, I don’t want you to be uncomfortable. Does sleeping next to me make you feel uncomfortable? You can be honest; I won’t be mad.”

“No, Tommy. It doesn’t. I just…” Kim let out a frustrated groan and Tommy looked over to see that her shoulders were slumped, and she was looking down at her hands and had a frown on her face.

Tommy put down the roller and walked over, sitting down in front of her. “You just what, Kim?”

Kim shrugged, still not looking at him. He took her hands in his, squeezing her fingers in encouragement. “I’m not used to sharing sleeping space with people anymore.” Kim admitted. Before Tommy had a chance to say anything, Kim continued. “It was really nice, waking up next to you last week.”

“Is that a bad thing?” Tommy asked, honestly confused because he’d also liked waking up next to her, but she sounded a bit miserable.

“Maybe? I don’t know.”

“I don’t understand.”

Kim opened her mouth, closed it, opened it again, and closed it again. Tommy smiled, pulling her forward to give her a kiss on the forehead. “I’ll tell you what, Beautiful. How about you go and get settled in my room and see if you can organize your thoughts. I only have a tiny bit of wall left then I’ll get a shower. When I get out, we can talk. Okay?”

“Okay,” she agreed quietly. Tommy got up, reaching down his hand to help Kim up as well. He leaned down and kissed her on the forehead again before she turned and headed to his room.

True to his word, Tommy quickly finished painting the wall and stored all of the supplies for the night. When he entered his room to go to the master bath for a shower, he found Kim sitting again on the chair, not the bed as he had intended her to do. He left her to her thoughts and closed the bathroom door behind him.

A few minutes later he exited, showered and now dressed in clean sleep pants. He’d forgone a shirt as he rarely slept with one on and hoped that it might distract Kim, even if only a little. He had seen, after all, that she seemed fascinated by his tattoos.

“Come here, Kim,” he called softly, reaching out his hand to her. She stood and took it. He led her around the bed to the side he normally did not occupy, dropping her hand and climbing on the bed over to his side. She got on after him, sitting cross legged, facing him while he did the same, mirroring her.

“Tell me what you’re thinking, Kim.”

“I don’t know if I can.”

He reached up, raising her chin until she made eye contact with him. “What’s wrong?”

“I know we are adults and we can sleep next to each other in the same bed and it should be no big deal but…”

“But?”

She didn’t answer, eyes dropping down again and she wrapped her arms around her torso, hugging herself.

It suddenly made sense to Tommy, he could still read her as well as he ever could, and he found himself feeling relieved. “I still love you; you know.” He told her softly. “So, you don’t have to worry. If you catch feelings, you’ll just be catching up with me.”

“You _can’t_ love me, Tommy. You don’t know me. So much has changed since we were teenagers. Even if it hadn’t, it wouldn’t be fair if you loved me.”

“I know you’ve changed. We both have. But you still brighten every room you walk into. You still care so deeply for your friends and the people close to you. You still are quick and witty. Those are all things about you I fell in love with the first time around and you haven’t lost a single one.”

“But now I’m sick and dependent and I have no idea when this tumor could kill me. You deserve to love someone healthy that you don’t have to worry about.”

“God, Kim. You are not dependent, first of all. You are living on your own, aren’t you? You’re working full time and you went to college and you own your own business on top of all that. That doesn’t sound like someone dependent to me.”

“I can’t get around on my own. I can’t drive.”

“There are tons of people who don’t drive that you’d never call dependent. Some people in cities never learn to drive because they don’t need to. Some people concerned with the environment just bike or walk or use public transportation. Not driving doesn’t make you dependent.” He grabbed her hands in his again as he’d done earlier. “And your tumor? Yeah, that means there are symptoms and complications I have to be aware of. But you don’t stop loving someone when they have the flu or because they need crutches when they break a leg. So why would I stop loving you just because you take medicine and can’t operate heavy machinery? And I thought _you_ told me that you have to hope for the best and keep on living your life despite your tumor. Don’t tell me that you are going to give up on love, one of the best things in life, because of a tumor that you’ll hopefully get removed in the next few months.”

Kim was crying now, and Tommy gathered her into his arms. “I want to believe you,” Kim whispered into his shoulder. “But I’ve become so depressed. I feel like such a coward.”

“You haven’t really had anyone to share this with though, have you?” Kim shrugged. “I’m here now. Let me help. Let me comfort you when you’re scared. Let me drive you to your appointments and you can tell me what the doctors say when you want a sounding board or another head considering your options. You know what else will help? Letting yourself have nice things. Nice things like a nice Maid of Honor dress for your best friends’ wedding. Like dances with me and with all the rest of the Rangers during the reception. Like waking up to my snoring.” Kim laughed a little at that. “Look, I know that we need to take time to get to know each other again, to see what we are and if the feelings between us are really as romantic as we think they are or if they are platonic and we’re reacting to nostalgia, although I’m pretty sure where my feeling are. But regardless, you are my friend, Kim. We’ve always been friends first. So, please, agree to sleep in this bed with me tonight and stop worrying that I won’t return your feelings because I’m pretty positive that I already do.”

“Okay.” Kim agreed and nuzzled her face further into Tommy’s shoulder.

After a few minutes, Tommy released her from his hug and reached up to pull down the covers on her side. “Get in,” he told her before he reached up and did the same to his side, getting in between the sheets as well. Settling on his side, he pulled Kim from where she was laying on her back across the mattress to him and settled her so that her back was to his chest. They stared out the window where the light was just starting to fade as it was not quite dusk yet. 

“You _are_ different from when we were teenagers,” he told her quietly after they had lain in silence for a while. “You are so much more determined. You are so independent and practical- I mean, look at how few clothes you have! And man, are you resilient. Those are the things I see in you. You’ve lived with the threat of seizures and complications from your tumor hanging over your head and you’ve _thrived_. There are people, Kim, that get a diagnosis for even highly treatable diseases and they just give up. I’m so proud of you for fighting and for still doing things you want to do.” Kim pulled his left arm, which was resting across her stomach, up to her chest and hugged his arm to her. He could tell she was overwhelmed.

“I know you’re seeing yourself through a really critical eye right now. You probably have for a long time. And I know that seeing me again probably has your brain pulling you all different ways. Just know that I’ll be here in whatever capacity you need me in whenever you need me. And when you’re ready to try dating again, let me know, okay?”

“I’ll try. I’m just so afraid that I’m too out of practice or that it won’t work because it won’t be the same as when we were younger or that I’ll mess everything up because I’ll go too fast since I love you so much already.”

Tommy smiled, squeezing her. “I love you too Kim. Let’s take our time, okay? For now, let’s just spend time together when we can get it, get to know each other again, and get comfortable being affectionate to each other again. For everything else, we’ll cross that bridge when we get to it.” Kim nodded and Tommy kissed the crown of her head. “How about you rest. You’ve had a long day.”

“It’s not even dark yet. And my brain’s moving too fast for me to sleep.”

“Do you want me to turn on the TV?”

“No.” She started struggling to release his hold on her, so he let go. She turned over and settled facing him. There were tear streaks down her cheeks which Tommy reached over to wipe away. “Could you, uh… could you tell me about your tattoos?”

Tommy chuckled. “I was right. You did seem distracted by them last week.”

“Tattoos are number one on the list of three things that make all men automatically more attractive.”

“What’s two and three?”

“Glasses and guyliner.”

“So, I’m two for three? I’ll take that. Maybe I’ll be a pirate for Halloween this year.”

“Oh, that’d be-” she stopped herself, groaning, and slapped her right hand over her eyes.

Tommy laughed but decided not to tease her. “You need to be able to see me if you want to know what tattoo I’m talking about.” She groaned again but uncovered her eyes all the same. He sat up deciding to start with his right shoulder which sported his first tattoo chronologically. “So, some of my tattoos mean something, but some of them don’t. After the first one I just sort of got this itch to have more, so I pretty much got whatever I wanted any time I had the cash to get them. The first one means something and it’s my dragon. I’m sure you can guess where that idea came from.”


	4. Olive

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Kim meets the team! Tommy isn’t exactly happy about it.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry, y’all. To be honest, I’ve had this chapter written since February, but I’ve had little to no motivation to write or edit since everything with Covid19 started. I beg you all to be careful and make sure you’re washing your hands/wearing your masks/keeping your hand sanitizer handy. 
> 
> But, I was so excited when I logged on yesterday to see a bunch of really nice comments and I made me want to post this and I’m feeling some vague inclination to continue writing/editing more oneshots. So, thanks, guys. I appreciate it. Have another chapter of Paint. 
> 
> Also, FYI, I’m feeling a little cringe-y about a scene I have in the (already written) next chapter, so it might take some time for me to re-write or resign myself to it.

Chapter 4: Olive

When Kim first woke up, the room was dark. There was just a little moonlight coming in from outside. With the moon waning, it was not throwing off all that much light. Kim turned so she could look at Tommy who was snoring lightly next to her. He’d spent a good hour earlier in the night pointing out all his tattoos and almost as much time telling her his best stories about getting them or people being surprised when they saw how tatted-up he was. 

She liked them. They were colorful and they made Tommy happy. She had barely been able to keep herself from reaching out and tracing them as he spoke. She thought that he probably wouldn’t have minded- he might have liked it really, but it had felt too intimate. Kim hesitantly reached out, resting a hand over his heart. This area was still unmarked by ink. Kim wondered if he’d someday get another tattoo here. 

Kim rolled back onto her back and tried to ignore Tommy laying next to her. She needed to think. 

Since they had met again, there had been a lot of emotionally charged conversations. Every one had centered around her tumor and the things that she did or avoided in accommodating it. She’d broken up with Tommy because of the tumor. She hadn’t told him about what happened after the Maligore incident because of the seizures caused by the tumor. She hadn’t dated because of the tumor. She hadn’t gotten back in touch with a bunch of her friends, including Billy who she’d known as long as she could remember, because she was afraid they would tell Tommy about the tumor. She had turned down being Trini’s Maid of Honor, and if she were honest with herself she had to admit that she hadn’t planned on going to the wedding at all, because she was afraid she’d look bad from surgery and because she’d have to tell the others about the tumor. 

Tommy had said that he saw her as being resilient, that she was thriving. All she could see was all the times that she let her tumor and seizures win. 

She wanted to be what Tommy said he saw, though. That would require that she start doing things in spite of the tumor and she’d have to get more comfortable knowing it was there. That meant telling Trini, Jason, her other friends, and her family about going for tests for the new surgery. It meant being more open with Tommy about the seizures, even if she hadn’t had one in years, about what her diagnosis actually entailed, and about her appointments and medication. He was the closest person to her in proximity. If something ever happened, she had no doubt that he’d be the first person by her side by several hours. It would be better if he knew what was going on with her. It meant letting herself and Tommy see where their feelings might take them together and letting herself give into the affectionate gestures her heart kept yelling at her to make. Kim started to make a plan in her head of several things she needed to do in the coming week. She was going to find a way to keep her tumor from controlling her life, whether the surgery came through or not. 

Kim turned back on her side, snuggling into Tommy chest, and fell back to sleep. 

____________ 

Tommy woke next with the sun shining through the east facing windows of his bedroom. But it was not the sunlight that caused him to awaken, nor was it Kim who was just barely starting to stir, face buried in his chest. 

It was Connor’s voice saying, rather loudly, “woah! Dr. O’s got a girl!” 

“Forget that,” said Ethan. “Look at all those tattoos.” 

“Kira was right,” came Trent’s voice, quieter than the other two boys. “I should have stayed downstairs with her. Dr. O’s going to murder both of you.” 

“No,” Tommy said gruffly, rolling onto his back to give his three former students and teammates a glare. “I’m going to murder all of you.” 

“Be nice, Tommy.” A still mostly asleep Kim admonished, scooting closer to him since his rolling over had moved him away. She settled her head on his shoulder so she was resting on his dragon tattoo and he instinctively curled his arm around her. She blinked blearily at the three teenaged boys standing just inside the room. Even half asleep she seemed to recognize them. “How does your team not know you have tattoos?” 

“How do you know about the team at all?” Trent asked sounding panicked. 

“She’s the original pink,” Connor exclaimed in recognition. Then added mockingly towards his teammate, “dumbass.” Ethan nodded. 

“What,” Tommy said, unable to hide the venom in his voice, “do you think you are doing in my house?” 

“Team bonding time.” Ethan answered, sounding somehow completely oblivious to his mentor’s short and already smoking fuse. “Hayley said you were painting so we thought-” 

“That you’d break into my house?!” 

“Tommy, breathe. It’s too early for me to have to deal with the fallout from evil-you.” 

“That’s not funny.” 

“Yes, it is. Stop being grumpy.” Kim slowly pushed herself up to a sitting position and preceeded to roll her head to work out the kinks in her neck from sleeping then reached both hands over her head, stretching. Tommy was distracted watching her and momentarily forgot the presences of his interloper former students until she turned back to them and said in her commanding voice, “go downstairs. We’ll be down in a minute.” 

They heard the boys’ footsteps echoing on the stairs moments later, leaving just them in the room again. “How come they listen to you?” 

“You never actually told them to leave.” 

“It was implied.” 

Kim leaned over, smiling down at him, and kissed his cheek. “Good morning, Tommy.” 

“Good morning, Kim.” 

They both sat up, Kim getting out of bed first and making her way to the bathroom. When she came out, he got out of bed and took his turn. When he reentered the bedroom, Kim was dressed in fabric shorts and a tank top, already looking ready to help with painting again, and was doing her hair at the mirror over top of the bureau. Tommy went over to the chest of drawers to pull out clothes for himself. 

“So why didn’t your team know that you have tattoos?” Kim asked. “You never said.” 

“I wear long sleeves,” Tommy said holding up a shirt as evidence. 

“All the time? Are you aware that we live in California and that it’s summer?” 

“I’m a teacher, Kim.” 

“Didn’t you tell me they all just graduated? Don’t you dare put on that shirt. It’s supposed to be hot today and we have work to do. The longest sleeves you are allowed is a t-shirt.” 

“I see bossy Kim is still alive and well,” he teased and he couldn’t help by lean over to kiss her cheek. He did fold the shirt back up and put it in the drawer, opening another drawer and pulling out another tank top. Kim stuck her tongue out at him. Tommy took his clothes and changed in the bathroom, coming out a minute later in the tank top and basketball shorts again. 

“Now, no biting off their heads,” Kim instructed. “It was nice of them to want to help you and so sweet that they wanted team bonding time.” 

“At 7AM?” 

“Play nice.” 

Tommy was still disgruntled. He’d hoped to wake slowly and be able to spend a while basking in Kim’s presence, especially knowing that she would have to go to her home at the end of the day. Damn teenagers. But he led the way down the stairs regardless, Kim just behind him. They walked over to his office, the trapdoor was already open, and Tommy realized that he had yet to show Kim his command center, even if it was completely trashed still. “Watch your step,” he told her taking her hand as he led her downward toward Kira’s angry voice. 

“What did I tell you?! You do not go up into someone’s house this early in the morning. You three are morons.” 

“Didn’t you teach your team not to piss off the Yellows?” 

Tommy shrugged. “I tried. It’s next to impossible to wrangle a team with this much testosterone. Kira was our only girl in uniform and Hayley wasn’t always around.” 

“Speaking of Hayley,” Connor interrupted, catching Tommy’s last comment as they reached the bottom of the stairs and completely disregarding the seething yellow beside him, “doesn’t she hate one of the Mighty Morphin’ Pink Rangers for some reason?” 

“That’d be me.” 

“Really?” Trent looked confused. “I’ve seen you at the café a couple of times this week and Hayley goes right over to you every time. She wasn’t talking to you like she hates you.” 

“We talked and she doesn’t hate me anymore.” 

“Well, why did she hate you in the first place?” Ethan asked. 

“I think that’s enough of the twenty questions treatment.” Tommy was not feeling particularly generous toward his teammates and was starting to see red. Embarrassed at the boys finding him wrapped around Kim, even if it was completely innocent, angry that they had invaded his personal space, and now feeling protective of Kim’s ego and honor- both of which might be damaged if the kids pulled their story out this way, Tommy had begun to shake, his fists clenched. 

Kim stepped into his space wrapping her arms around his waist in a hug, head rested against his chest. Tommy again automatically wrapped his arms around Kim, squeezing her back and dropping his cheek so it rested on top of her hair. 

His frustration rushed out of him. He knew, in the back of his mind, that the teens were still standing there, watching them, but Kim had so willingly stepped into his embrace that he couldn’t bring himself to care. 

Kim eventually released him and stepped back, repositioning herself beside him and grabbed his hand. He felt calmer than he had before, but he still needed to make sure the team knew the rules. “All four of you- unless there is an emergency or we already had something planned, you being in this house, even down here, before 9AM is unacceptable. And you three,” here Tommy pointed at the three boys, “if you ever come up into my house again uninvited, the world better be ending or someone about to die. Otherwise, I will kill you and scatter your dismembered body parts in every Ranger base I know of so no one will ever find you.” 

“Do you know of a lot of Ranger bases?” Trent squeaked out. 

“Yes,” Tommy hissed back. 

“And with that,” Kim interrupted with a wry smile, “I think it’s time we go find breakfast.” 

______   
It took some doing to get the kids to leave. Ethan, in particular, was pretty disappointed that he was being told to leave when he was finally getting to meet an original Ranger that had come even before Dr. O. Tommy had finally told them that he and Kim were going out to breakfast and he’d text Kira when they were back and the team could then come back and help paint. Tommy had gone back up to his bedroom and changed into a long sleeve shirt to go out, much to Kim’s annoyance. 

“I have to, for my own sanity,” Tommy explained later as they sat at their table at Denny’s after they ordered. He had taken the side of the booth that left his back towards most of the restaurant, hoping that any of his students in the building wouldn’t be able to recognize him by the back of his head. “I try my best to ignore it, but I can’t help but hear some of the students, particularly the girls. Hayley’s told me too, she thinks it’s funny.” 

“Oh? And what exactly is it that they say?” Kim teased and Tommy shot her what he hoped was a begging and long-suffering look saying please-don’t-make-me. “Tell me. I want to hear you say it.” 

“They find me attractive.” 

“I don’t disagree.” 

Tommy blushed. “I don’t need to draw any more attention to myself. There is a reason I dress in such baggy clothes for work, and it isn’t just because I don’t know what looks good on me.” 

“Tommy, I get covering up while you are at work, but you aren’t at work right now.” 

“I know, but this town isn’t really that big. Two booths behind me, there’s two girls with their parents… that’s Emily and Jennica Weston. Emily just finished ninth grade and Jennica just finished eleventh. I’ve had both of them in class and Jennica is part of a gaggle of girls that show up to any organization I run. I started a martial arts club- like fifteen girls stand in the corner watching us but never participate. I started a club taking students out to dig sites on weekends, they all joined that and I don’t think a single one of them have picked up a single shovel or trowel. See that table over there with two girls- one of them is a red head and the other is blonde? Those two are Caroline Simmons and Ashley Silver. They are part of the group too. The hostess that seated us is Michelle Carlson. There is a rotation at the school for which teacher has detention on any given day. Michelle and two other girls figured out what the rotation is and they managed to get themselves in my last three detentions of the year but they never, ever get in trouble otherwise.” 

“Oh, my poor Tommy, being chased by all the younger girls.” 

“It really is awful, Kim,” he said miserably. “I just want to teach and instead I’m trying to ignore the fact that all these girls are making eyes at me and there is literally nothing I can do.”   
“Well, you know you aren’t going to give in to their advances,” Tommy shivered in disgust. “So, let yourself be comfortable in public and wear what isn’t going to give you heatstroke. You never know, maybe the girls will be anti-tattoo and you’ll be able to get rid of some of your fanclub.” Tommy doubted that but decided that the debate wasn’t worth having for the moment. 

Their food came out not long after and they dug in. Tommy was enjoying just being out with Kim, even knowing that he’d have to share her with his team when they got back to the house to paint. Over their meal they’d switched topics to talk more about their other former teammates. Tommy was regaling Kim with the story of how Billy and Kat had ended up dating the second time when two of the girls that Tommy had pointed out to Kim earlier approached their table. 

“Hi Dr. Oliver!” The blonde, Ashley, gushed. “How’s your summer?” 

Tommy forced a smile, feeling uneasy. “Hello Ashley. Hello Caroline. My summer has been fine so far. I hope you are both enjoying a break from school.” 

“We are, Dr. Oliver, but we miss your class, of course!” Caroline said. “Are you working on anything this summer, like a dig or martial arts tournament or something? We’d be happy to give you a hand.” 

Tommy could see in his peripheral vision that Kim was desperately trying to keep a straight face. She was failing. Both of these girls were digging for information and he’d be damned if he gave them anything. “Nothing of much consequence. I’m sure you girls must have much better things to do with your summer.” 

“Not at all,” said Caroline. 

“Well, if you have nothing going on, you’re welcome to hang out with us. We’re here most days for breakfast.” Ashley had started batting her eyelashes at him. 

“Yeah,” Caroline agreed. “It’s not healthy to isolate yourself from human contact for a whole summer.” 

“As you can see, girls,” he said using his right hand which was further from them to indicate Kim, “I already have a breakfast companion. You don’t have to worry about me isolating myself.” 

“Oh,” said Caroline acting, very unconvincingly, he might add, surprised to see another person there. “Who’s this?” 

Tommy had had enough. “My friend and I would like to continue with our meal. You two have a good summer,” he dismissed them. 

“Oh, you don’t have to stop eating because of us. I’m sure your friend,” Caroline emphasized, shooting a scathing look at Kim, “wouldn’t mind us joining so we can catch up with you!” She moved as if she was about to sit down in the booth next to Kim, which would put her right in front of him. 

“I would mind, actually,” Kim cut in, reaching across the table and taking hold of Tommy’s hand, which was already resting halfway to her and, with her other hand, patting her purse which she had pushed slightly more to the center of the open space next to her. “If you’ll excuse us, we have a rather busy day. It was so nice meeting some of Tom’s students though and seeing how well liked he is.” Kim smiled sweetly but kept Tommy’s hand firmly in hers. 

When he neither rebuked Kim nor let go of her hand, the girls finally got the hint and left, still alternately staring Kim down and smiling at Tommy until they were no longer in either’s line of sight. “I’m so sorry, Kim.” Tommy felt his entire face turning red. 

Kim just started giggling. “I can’t believe it. They were really trying to mark their territory.” 

“It’s never been that bad,” Tommy admitted, amazed at the ridiculousness of the entire encounter. It hadn’t been all bad though; Kim hadn’t let go of his hand yet and he wasn’t going to pull away until she did first. She squeezed his hand. 

“I can’t imagine what school is like, especially if there are so many girls like that vying for your attention. There must be a cat fight in every one of your classes every day!” 

“Mmm… there might be if I showed any preference, but they don’t fight much, I guess because I equally ignore them all. I noticed, though, that Ashley and Caroline weren’t the only ones trying to mark their territory.” He held up their still clasped hands as evidence. 

Kim shot him a somewhat predatory smile that he couldn’t help but like. “No, Tommy. While they might have been trying to mark their territory, I succeeded in doing so.” 

_______ 

They lingered at the restaurant for a while over coffee after they had finished their breakfast. A little after 9AM, they made it to the paint store. If Tommy was going to have all this extra help, he figured he should get paint and more supplies for another room since the hallway wouldn’t even take thirty minutes if all six of them were working on it. Over breakfast, they’d decided that with such a massive contingent of painters, it only made sense to tackle the living room. 

Kim and Tommy stood shoulder to shoulder in front of the color wall considering their options after Kim had greeted her co-workers that were in the store. “So,” she said to him, “what are you thinking?” 

“I think I need to not go anywhere as bold with this as the bedroom,” Tommy said, “but not quite as neutral as the hallway.” 

“So you do still want a little bit of color?” 

“Yeah. I’m thinking green again.” 

Kim had to roll her eyes at Tommy for that. “You know, not everything has to be green or even one of your colors.” 

“Yeah, but green is my favorite color. That’s why I was wearing it that day. First day of a new school was always awful. Wearing green always made me feel a little better. It’s still my favorite. Besides, the house is surrounded by forest, so it helps bring the outside in.” 

Kim smiled but rolled her eyes again. “Okay, green it is, but I’m not letting you pick like neon or lime green.” 

“I was thinking something more like this.” Tommy stepped forward and pulled a swatch of a pale olive green color. It was rather neutral, Kim thought, as it was both light and had just a touch of beige about it. It was a good backdrop color, Kim thought. It wasn’t the type that would distract the eye from anything else in the room, but it was significantly better than the bland sandy beige already on the walls. “Olive green it is, then.” 

They had Annie, one of Kim’s co-workers, start mixing several gallons of the color and went back for more white ceiling and trim paint and a few extra paint brushes, rollers, and roller trays. With everything bought, they took their purchases out the car and drove back to Tommy’s house. 

_____   
In the end, they decided to finish the second coat of the hallway upstairs before Tommy texted his team that they could come over to help paint. That gave the pair time to wash the brushes they had used, take supplies and the ladder downstairs, and to start removing furniture and decor items from the room, covering the floors in drop cloths. Kim had just sat down to start painting the baseboards when the teens knocked on the door. Tommy let them in and immediately doled out jobs. 

Obviously, he wasn’t quite over them showing up that morning. 

Trent was tasked with painting the molding near the ceiling and, in the wall color, the bit of wall just under it. Conner was given a roller to put a new coat of paint on the ceiling. Kira was given a paint brush to start the trim around the windows and doorways, and Ethan was given a roller to start painting the walls. Tommy himself took a wider paintbrush to start painting the wall just over the baseboard trim and he made a point of being just about four feet behind Kim. 

Someone must have filled Trent in on Tommy’s Ranger Legacy video because he seemed much less freaked out by Kim’s presence and they chatted across the room comfortably about Hayley’s Cyberspace and art. Kira, when she heard that Kim played guitar, had commandeered the conversation and the two women spent a good hour comparing musical interests. Connor and Ethan occasionally threw questions her way when there were lulls in the conversation. She had to be rather careful in how she answered as they mostly seemed to be fishing for embarrassing stories of teenaged-Tommy or asking about his days being evil. Neither seemed to be a good idea to go too much into and the later subject seemed to discomfort Trent. 

Near three in the afternoon, they had finished the first coat of paint. Kim’s stomach was growling, having not eaten since breakfast more than six hours before. Tommy pulled out bread and rolls, lunchmeat, cheese, lettuce, and two bags of chips and they had an assembly line lunch service. Kim and Tommy ate leaning up against counters since there were only four seats at the kitchen table. “The paint isn’t going to dry enough for us to do another coat right now.” Tommy announced to the group as they were finishing lunch. “We started too late and didn’t all work on the same sections at the same time. If you all want to paint more, you can come back and help me tomorrow since I’m on my own. It probably is going to need another two coats since the color is so light.” The teens agreed and twenty minutes later bid their teammate and Kim goodbye. 

___________   
Tommy and Kim lingered in the kitchen after the teens had left, but were both cognizant that their time together was again coming to an end. They eventually moved back upstairs to the master bedroom, deciding to spend some time lounging on the still unmade bed before it was time for Kim to go back home. “You did a good job with them, Tommy.” Kim told him. 

Tommy shrugged. “They stepped up, just like we did, just like all of the Rangers before them did. I just gave them the morphers and bikes and all.” 

“You did a hell of a lot more than that. Personalities like that don’t just become cohesive groups on their own. Especially not if they are teenagers.” 

“Our groups had a lot of different personalities.” Tommy countered. 

“Eh, not entirely. Billy and I were probably the outliers of the original five; we were on completely different ends of the spectrum from one another. The reason we got along so well was because we didn’t really have much of a choice in being friends. Our parents put us in the same tumbling class when we were two. I don’t remember a time that I didn’t know Billy. So no matter how different our personalities got as we grew up, we had that connecting us. I’ve known him longer than any of the others. Plus, you know, the whole switching bodies thing. 

“All of the others had martial arts in common, even if Jason was far more into it than Zack and Trini. That’s how they all met, you know. Then Jason moved in next door to me and we all ended up in kindergarten together. I brought Billy into me and Jason’s friendship and Jason brought Trini and Zack. 

“Then we were just one big group. Trini and Billy understood each other, Zack and I had music in common, although in different ways… we all had something to tie us to each of the others and our friendship was over a decade long when we became Rangers. When you came in, you had so much in common with Jason and were so friendly to everyone else, you just fit seamlessly. 

“Your team is a whole other story. I can’t see Ethan and Connor being on anything resembling friendly terms when they became rangers. If some of the stories Kira told today are any indication, I can’t see Connor having been friends with any of them.” 

“He wasn’t,” Tommy admitted. 

“And I can’t really see Ethan being close to either of the other two either. He seems like he’d be the type completely engrossed in his games in an antisocial type way that Billy always had avoided because of our group.” Tommy nodded his agreement at this observation too. 

“But they all have a sense of loyalty and responsibility.” Tommy said. “They would have figured themselves out even without me there. Connor understood the importance of team over ego well before he got powers, even if he didn’t always practice what he knew to be true. Ethan had the brains that the others wouldn’t have let him leave. Kira is the heart, and honestly she figured out just about everything before the other two and she was the more equalizing force.” 

“And what about Trent?” 

“Yeah, you might be right there,” Tommy admitted. “I don’t think they would have accepted him even after he had broken himself out of the evil spell if the other three hadn’t known about my past. They almost didn’t give him a chance as it was.” Tommy could see that Kim was about to continue on trying to convince him that he was the glue of the team, so he changed the subject, going back to the topic of Billy. “You got to say something to him, you know. Especially now that I know that you met Billy before everyone else. I always figured that you met Jason first and that Billy was probably the last to join your group, probably brought in by Trini.” 

“I want to, you know, but I’m honestly more worried about how he is going to react than I am about anyone else. I wasn’t even as worried about how you would take it.” Kim turned on her side to cuddle up against Tommy’s side. 

“I remember when his mom died. It’s one of the first memories I have. I remember crying during my third birthday when they were singing to me- mom says I was afraid of the candles on the cake. Then I remember a tumbling class when Billy was really upset and when class was over, my parents picked us both up. Then my third earliest memory is wearing a grey dress and Billy being in a little suit, standing next to the casket. I remember that he wouldn’t look over at it. We were both three. He’s going to be so upset with me when I tell him. I just know that it’s still hard for him, whenever he knows anyone is really sick. I couldn’t figure out a way to say it.” 

“We’ll tell him together,” Tommy promised. It surprised him a little, Billy and Kim’s closeness. He’d always thought of Trini and Jason as Kim’s closest and oldest friends, but he wondered now if Billy didn’t edge them out. “Tell me your favorite memory of Billy.” 

Kim thought for a moment and then began to giggle. “You can’t be mad.” She said, giggling harder. Tommy raised an eyebrow at her, but prodded her to tell him anyways. “Well, now I definitely have to hear what your memory is if it’s this funny and will apparently make me go crazy of something.” 

“Well, it was related to when we switched bodies…” Kim broke off in giggles again. Tommy remembered hearing about the spell that left Kim and Billy in the other’s body. It had been very shortly before he had moved to town himself. He’d heard that there had been a decent amount of strife between the two while they were in each other’s bodies and that had been what the rest of the rangers had talked about when they discussed that particular day. 

He’d always wondered if Kim and Billy hadn’t kept some of what happened that day back from the others. Afterall, he knew that teenaged Kim had seemed to need to pee constantly with how much water she drank. And if he’d been in a girl’s body at fifteen, well, he could admit to himself that he wouldn’t have been able to keep himself from looking, at least a little. 

“Gosh, that brought us so close together in the weirdest way. At some point in the day Billy’s body or I, I guess, well… we had to pee. It was the first time I’d seen… well, I decided that I was never going to mention it. And I really never was, until I got back in my body and I didn’t have to pee even though I had been about ready to find a bathroom when we switched bodies. And then I remember that I was on my period that day.” 

“No.” Tommy said, feeling laughter bubble up in his chest. Oh God. He thought. Poor Billy. Tommy now recalled Billy once punching Rocky in the stomach once when he made a joke about Aisha complaining about period cramps. It had been out of character for Billy, but it made sense now. 

“Yes.” Kim laughed. “Billy had to deal with my cramps and the blood and changing a tampon and everything. I ended up going over and thanking him and we talked for a long time about what we’d both gone through that day, both bodily function wise and with all the social and school related stuff. He asked me what helped when I was on my period because he wasn’t able to come up with a way to make the cramps less awful and he’d be absolutely miserable the entire day. I told him that I was always craving salty food or chocolate. He bought me chocolate covered pretzels every four weeks until I left for Florida. And he sent me off to Florida with a huge tub of them. My favorite memory though is that after that incident, he started to keep tampons and pads in his backpack. I heard one of the girls in our English class one day freaking out about her period starting early and not having anything. He just reached in his bag and passed her a tampon and a pad without a single word. All of the girls knew after that. If they didn’t have anything, Billy would and he wouldn’t say a word about it.” 

Tommy looked down to see that Kim’s smile had fallen and her eyes were watery. “We’re going to tell him about what happened and he is going to be so excited to see you again. We might have a problem keeping him from moving into Reefside so he can be by your side every second of the day.” 

“I should have told him sooner. He’s going to be so upset that everyone else in our group knew before he did.” 

“You love him.” Tommy said and Kim nodded. “You wanted to protect him. He’ll understand that, even if it takes some time. Plus, it’s not like you actually told the others.” 

“I told you.” 

“Yeah, but that’s a little different. Billy’s penis might have been the first one you ever saw, but you saw a lot more of mine and under very different circumstances.” Tommy wiggled his eyebrows at her, making Kim laugh. “Speaking of, well, sort of… you have been a great deal more affectionate today.” 

“I was thinking about what you said last night.” She admitted. “I want to be all the things you see in me. I want to be thriving despite my tumor.” 

“You already are,” he told her, “even if you can’t see it, I can.” 

“I want to see it too. I thought that I maybe needed to start acting without letting my tumor play a part in my decision making all the time, especially in places where my tumor really shouldn’t limit me. My tumor shouldn’t get to decide my relationships. I thought maybe I should start acting on my intuition when I felt the pull to be affectionate.” She glanced up at him shyly through her eyelashes. “Has all of that been… okay?” 

Tommy leaned forward, kissing Kim’s forehead. “It’s made me really happy. Definitely okay. Remember what I said- I’m here when you’re ready and I’m pretty positive of where my feelings are, but I’m more than willing to be patient, especially if it’s for you.” They were quiet for a few minutes. 

“So, if you aren’t letting your tumor be decision maker for you anymore, does that mean you are going to call Trini and Jason tonight?” 

Kim sighed, “Yeah, I guess.” 

Tommy laughed, “good. I was 100% serious about splitting that hotel room. I’m making our reservation tonight as soon as I get back from dropping you off at home.” 

__________   
Hours later, Jason and Trini huddled on Trini’s couch, talking about the call she had received about an hour before from Kim. Kim had called to tell her that she was willing to be Trini’s Maid of Honor, if she really still wanted her (she did, of course), but she had to tell her about the surgery that she was possibly getting. Before they had hung up, Trini assured Kim that she wanted her next to her at the altar hair or no hair, standing or wheelchair bound, and regardless of anything else. Trini had called over her fiancé as soon as the line had disconnected, asking him to come over so they could talk about her call from Kim. 

Jason was upset that Kim might have to go through another surgery, but they both reassured each other that they would not let Kim go into another surgery without her friends, even if it was just the four of them that knew that she allowed to be there. Plus, with her agreeing to be in the wedding, maybe they could finally convince her to mend bridges with Tommy, Billy, and the other Rangers. It wasn’t like she would really be able to hide that something was wrong from the others if she was still recovering from surgery. She’d have to tell them. 

In Reefside, Tommy feel asleep lying across the bed so he could smell the faint scent of Kim’s hair on the pillows that he’d now call hers. 

In town, Kim fell asleep hours later after having put together a packet of information about her condition, medicine, and doctors that she intended to give to Tommy. When she slept, she dreamt of dancing with Tommy at Jason and Trini’s wedding, Billy smiling at them as he danced with Kat; their friends all content and happy around them. It was one of the best nights of sleep she’d had in years. Only the nights spent wrapped in Tommy’s arms had been better.


	5. Garnet

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Tommy’s skills of subterfuge are put to the test when Jason comes for a visit.

Chapter 5: Garnet

Two weeks passed. Kim and Tommy had by this point established a nightly time to call one another. By 10PM Kim was always home, regardless of how early or late her shift was and Tommy would have sent the kids home- they had begun spending almost everyday over at Tommy’s house helping him with his remodel.

The day after they had met Kim, the team had come back to help finish painting the living room. It was helpful, but Tommy discovered that he found painting with the kids just as annoying as painting on his own, although with the kids it was quicker. He’d do his best to limit painting to days that Kim could help him out.

Instead, he’d set the kids to helping him pull the command center back together- it took them all almost a week- then he’d set them to projects here and there as he came across them. Kira had been a beast at ripping up carpet in the upstairs hall, so he’d pretty much let her be in charge of ripping out the bedroom carpets too. He wondered if she was so cheery just because he let her boss around the boys, making them carry the ripped up, cut down, then rolled carpet downstairs, down the long driveway, and out to the road where it would be picked up.

Connor had been particularly adept at changing light fixtures, which was quite helpful as Tommy wanted to put a ceiling fan in every bedroom and almost every other fixture in the house was from the 80s, so they all needed to be replaced. Trent usually held the ladder for him, taking one fixture as it came down and handing the new one up. Tommy often heard them chatting as Trent held and Connor worked and was glad to see them building a friendship since the two had never really connected.

Ethan, unsurprisingly, had been interested in anything electronic or electrical. He’d designed a plot for under cabinet lights for the kitchen, had replaced several normal light switches for dimmer switches, convinced Tommy to put in a nice stereo system with a stupid amount of speakers, which Ethan installed all throughout the ground floor of the house and on the back deck, and was overall slowly turning Tommy’s house into a smart house. Tommy wasn’t sure that he really needed all the technology, but he could afford it well enough and it kept Ethan busy, so he allowed it.

The days that had been the most fun for the group of former Dino Rangers had been spent updating the master bathroom. The team had pulled up the ugly, eighties, beige, boldly-patterned, linoleum floor and replaced several fixtures. It had certainly taken all of them. Kira had been put in charge of the floor- it was different than ripping up carpet, but she had apparently researched the best method. She got Tommy and Trent to be her muscle. Connor and Ethan had been set to removing the toilet, sink, and vanity. Tommy figured that between Connor and Ethan, Connor would be the muscle and Ethan the brains. It turned out that Connor had made a lot more sense of how to remove the fixtures in one piece while Ethan’s suggestion had been to smash them all and take them out in pieces. It took all day just to remove everything save for the clawfoot tub- luckily re-glazed by the previous owners, and the shower, although Ethan did remove the shower head as Tommy was going to put a nicer one in. 

On Wednesday, they had all come back to help put the bathroom back together again. Ethan and Trent had started putting grey-veined white tiles up on the bathroom wall, Trent taking to how to put them up and use the spacers with ease. Tommy had designed the wall to be covered with tiles a little over half way up, then he would be painting the top part of the wall another color for contrast. Connor and Kira, meanwhile, secured the pattered black, white, and grey tile on the floor. Tommy was surprised at how cohesively the group worked together, one team keeping clear of the other, generally, but stopping what they were doing to help when extra hands were needed, usually on the wall since the tiles, which were rather large, were fighting gravity.

Tommy had finished the bathroom the next day, putting in the new vanity and sink himself and attaching the new shower head in the shower before Connor came over early to help him put in the new toilet. All of the kids had come over, excited to see how the bathroom finally came together and Tommy let them all sign their names to the wall, which amused them, even though they knew that Tommy would be painting soon.

That night, Tommy had looked on his team’s work with satisfaction. The bathroom was exactly how he had imagined it and he was excited to have Kim see it. She’d hadn’t been to the house in two weeks.

While they talked every night, Tommy and Kim only got to see each other a few times, mostly for dinner on a night here or there where Kim didn’t have a late shift at the paint shop. A few times, Tommy had stayed over at Kim’s apartment after dinner, thankful for any time he’d get to hold her while they slept.

Two days after the last time she’d been at the house, Kim had informed him, via text message, that she’d left something for him with Hayley at the Cyberspace café. When Tommy had picked it up later that day, he found that she’d left a packet full of papers that she had bound together, probably at one of the office stores nearby, and it had been full of her medical history. It had a table of contents and everything and Tommy admired her organization as he flipped through the pages.

One page listed her doctors and their contact information. There were copies of her medical power of attorney (it was Trini), her emergency contacts (he was second, right after Trini and right before her father; a recent change, he assumed), and a page listing all of her diagnoses with a section under each listing her medications she took for it, dosages, and the frequency of each. He’d found a copy of her seizure plan, which also listed her medications, unbound in the back of the book with a note that he should keep it with him, just in case he ever was with her when she had a seizure, but that she also had a copy in her purse. He was glad to have the plan and read over it several times, doing his best to commit it to memory. He felt a little more confident that he’d at least know what to do if the worst happened. She’d included a copy of her medical history too and he was determined to sit and read it all at some point, although he wasn’t completely sure he’d understand as it was several dozen pages long.

There was a chart related to her seizures- she’d had thirteen total, and the chart described in detail the duration of each, whether she’d remained conscious, the date, the type of seizure (Tommy hadn’t even been aware that there was different types), what she had been doing immediately before the incident, and what treatment, if any, had been administered. It was a lot of information, and rather frightening if he were honest, but Kim’s note that she had attached reassured him that most of her medical woes were past and this was mostly in case something out of the ordinary happened and he was the only one who the doctors could get a hold of.

It was amazingly thoughtful- perhaps not the most romantic of gifts, but it meant everything to Tommy. She’d trusted him with her medical history after she had kept it so quiet for so long. He took the seizure plan, full of directions, medications, and doctor’s phone numbers, and folded it up to fit in his wallet so he’d always have it, just in case. Then he’d stored his copy of all her information in the basket on his bookshelf in his bedroom that contained all his other paperwork. That way, if he ever needed it, he knew where it lived so he could easily grab it or direct someone to pick it up for him.

On Friday, July 1st, Kim had an early shift which meant she was available to see him for dinner, but because he knew she had another early shift the next morning, Tommy knew that he couldn’t drag her out to his place. He didn’t mind so much as time spent at Kim’s apartment was usually more relaxed since there wasn’t a ton of painting work to do. He arrived at 6PM, Kim answering her door wearing a floral printed dress. “Hey,” she had said, stepping into him to hug him around the waist as they stood in her apartment hallway. “I’ve missed you. I’m sorry this entire week has been so crazy and that I had to cancel on you yesterday. Jen’s got some stomach bug and it’s too hard for most of the others to cover her shifts since they all have kids home for the summer. It just made the most sense for me to do it.”

“It’s fine. I get to see you now. Plus, we mostly worked on the master bathroom yesterday and it’s still only partially put together since I need to paint and finish putting everything away. We probably got more done yesterday since you weren’t there.” He admitted, releasing her and following her inside. “I wouldn’t have gotten very much done if I was snapping at the kids because I was pissed that I had to share you with them.”

Kim hummed her agreement, leading him to the couch where they both made themselves comfortable. Kim snuggled up into Tommy’s side. “I got a call from the neurosurgeon’s office today.” She said softly. “My appointment is set for July 26th down at UCLA and my appointments start at 8AM. I’ll have bloodwork first, then a brain scan before I can see the doctor.”

Tommy pulled out his phone, opening the calendar and putting a note in for the date and time of her appointment. “Will you have to work the day before?”

“No, I’ll tell my manager when I go in tomorrow to block the 25th through 27th off for me.”

“Good. Would it be okay if we were at my house the day before? I’m a little closer to the freeway. We’ll probably have to leave pretty early to get there in time.”

“Yeah, that’s fine with me. I really wanted to see what you were doing with the house. Have you decided about the floors upstairs yet?

“Sort of. There actually aren’t too many boards that need to be replaced in the hallway and the three spare rooms that had carpet all look alright too, although they were stained all sorts of weird colors. Kira’s become the flooring queen. I have a floor stripper reserved for a few days next week from Home Depot and I’m pretty much leaving it all in her hands. Once we have all the old stain up and those couple of boards replaced, I’ll be able to decide if I just seal it or stain it first.” 

“It’ll look nice to have all of the hardwoods. I know that’s what you were hoping for.”

Tommy agreed and the conversation lulled as they sat snuggled together, waiting for the lasagna Kim had cooking in the oven to be ready.

After a while, Tommy remembered the note he had scribbled and stuck in his overnight bag. “I have something for you.” Tommy said, pushing himself off the couch to go to his bag. He pulled out the yellow post-it note, handing it to Kim. “It’s the name and number of my mom’s friend who makes the wigs. I talked to her briefly and she said she’d have to see your hair to get a better idea, but she thought it was plausible based on your length, assuming there weren’t too many dead ends. She said when you’ve decided if you actually need a wig to give her a call and we can meet up with her and she can give us an idea of if she can do it and how long it would take to make it.”

Kim took the note, looking nervous. “Thanks Tommy. I’ll feel better wearing my own hair if I do have to shave it off.”

“Remember, we’ll cross that bridge when we get to it.” She nodded and Tommy sat back down, pulling her into his arms and kissing her forehead to comfort her. “I, uh… had to explain to my mom why I needed the contact information for her friend who makes wigs.”

Kim tensed in his arms. “And how did that go over.”

“She was really upset on your behalf. And she yelled at me a little. She and my dad have been telling me since I got that letter that I was an idiot for not going after you.”

“No they haven’t.” Kim rolled her eyes, but smiled a bit, so it had the effect that Tommy had been hoping for.

“Maybe not explicitly so, but I’ve gotten a couple of comments over the years to that effect. ‘Tom, Kat is a perfectly nice girl, but she doesn’t make you smile like Kim did.’ ‘Tom, it can’t be that hard to just ask Jason for Kim’s number.’ I swear. I think they like you more than they like me.” Kim snorted. “My mom really is excited that you’re back in my life. So is my dad. They loved you then and I think they love you a hundred times more now because they respect that you were trying to protect me.” He paused for a moment, wondering if it was okay that he revealed Kim’s diagnosis with his parents. “I hope you don’t mind, but I told them about the tumor and about the surgery.”

“I’m surprised you kept it from them until now.” She smiled up at him. “I don’t mind them knowing. Like I said, the only reason everyone doesn’t know is because I was trying to keep you from getting pulled in. Now that you know, I don’t really have any reason it should be secret, other than my discomfort with having to tell everyone. Your parents were always so nice to me.”

Tommy smiled at her as she relaxed back into his arms and wondered aloud what length wig his mom’s friend would be able to provide her with. As long as the ends hit under her chin, it would probably be okay. Tommy, as she rambled on about wig styles, decided to keep to himself the parts of the conversation where his mother asked him if they were dating again (“we’re taking it slow, mom”), if they’d be allowed to be with him when she had her surgery (“we’re not even sure if she’s eligible yet”), and when the two of them were going to give her grandchildren (“Mom! She’s dealing with a brain tumor and we haven’t even kissed yet! You aren’t getting grandchildren anytime soon!” “Well, you’d better hurry up and kiss her then. I’m not getting younger, Thomas”).

They ate dinner once the lasagna was done then put on comfy clothes and cuddled in her bed, putting on an action movie Kim had rented from the library at Tommy’s request. It was nearing 9:30 and the movie had just ended when Tommy’s cell phone began to ring. He grabbed it and turned the screen so Kim could see the caller ID which read _Jason Scott_. He put a finger to his lips, and she nodded before he answered.

“Hey Jase. What’s up?”

“Hey Tommy. Trini’s scheduled to work all weekend and I’m getting cabin fever at home. I was wondering if you might like some help with your house this weekend? Last time we talked you said you had a ton to paint still and wanted to get it done before you had to start getting ready for school again.”

Tommy was nervous to have Jason over, especially for a full weekend. He wanted to tell everyone he knew about how happy he was to have Kim in his life again, but they were determined to keep it from Jason until they had some idea of where they were going. And he really did want to make a big to-do about it when it was revealed to Jason. But Kim also had a full weekend of work and he really did need to get some more rooms painted, even if he had to do it without Kim, so he’d be finished before the school year.

“Yeah,” he said, trying to sound enthusiastic. “Some help would be great, and it’s been a while since we hung out. When would you plan on getting here?”

“Tomorrow morning? I could probably get there around 11:30 if I left here by 9. I’ll even bring coffee.”

“I can’t turn down free coffee,” Tommy agreed. “I’ll see you around 11:30 then. I’ll make sure to grab paint early from the store so we can get to work.”

“Sounds good. See you tomorrow Tom.”

“See you then.”

He hung up and looked over at Kim who hadn’t moved a muscle his entire conversation. “This weekend is going to be hellish, trying not to talk about you. Jason always said he could figure out when I was _thinking_ about you because I always looked dopey when I did.”

Kim laughed. “You’ll need to develop a game face in the next twelve hours then.” She kissed his cheek and he blushed. Kim laughed again. “Yeah, that’s not working. Just try not to think of me, okay? Don’t ruin this. We want a big reveal, remember?”

__________

Tommy figured he and Jason could paint the kitchen. This room, he decided, could be red. Kim had laughed at him, “you know, your house is going to look like Christmas threw up on all the walls.”

“I won’t go too red,” he promised as he drove her the short distance to her work. He waited out in his car for a few minutes once Kim had gone inside the store until it was 9AM and officially open. Inside he greeted Pat; at this point several of Kim’s co-workers recognized him on sight. Not long after, Kim came out of the back room to help him look through reds for the kitchen.

He ended up deciding on a garnet colored paint, partially because he liked that the color had a little hint of purple in it, softening it up, but mostly because of how Kim’s eyes had lit up when he’d chosen that color. She had seemed less enthused about the more vibrant reds closer to his old suit color and he’d had almost a violent reaction to an orangey-red on the far too orangey side that she’d pointed out to him. Garnet was an easy compromise. 

With paint in hand, he let Kim walk him to the door. Pat had gone into the back, so Kim reached up and gave him a gentle kiss on the cheek. The way he’d turned his head when he leaned down to her had meant that her lips grazed the very corner of his mouth. They both blushed but smiled. It wasn’t quite a real kiss, but it was coming soon, Tommy thought.

“Don’t tell him anything.” Kim grinned at him conspiratorially.

“Of course not, Beautiful. I guess I talk to you on Monday? It’s probably not safe for us to have our evening talks if we want to keep this under wraps.”

“Text me tonight. Let me know how it’s going.”

With a promise that he would, Tommy left. When he got home He changed Kim’s name in his phone to ‘Ann,’ just in case Kim texted him and Jason was around, then ran upstairs to put that picture of the team on his nightstand in a drawer.

__________

Jason pressed the doorbell beside Tommy’s front door with a knuckle, his overnight bag slung across his shoulders and a paper coffee cup in each hand. He was debating how to bring up the subject of Kim to Tommy sometime during the weekend.

Kim had yet to call him, although he had at least been glad that she had reached out to Trini, and he had every intention of dropping in on her at some point before he drove back home on Sunday night. Of course, he wouldn’t bring Tommy with him; he had promised Kim that he wouldn’t reveal her secret to Tommy or any of the others, but he was hoping that if he hinted at Kim being in California, Tommy might ask to get back in touch with her, and Jason could badger Kim with the request to get them talking again. 

As he mulled over the best way of bringing this up without betraying Kim’s confidences, Tommy opened the door, waving him inside and taking the coffee Jason offered him. “I still don’t have a guest room ready, or even a bed ordered yet,” Tommy admitted. “So I guess you get to sleep with me tonight.”

Jason had been to Tommy’s house a few times over the past year, so he didn’t require the tour, although he did accept a tour of improvements.

“The only room I’ve worked on so far down here is the living room,” Tommy said, leading him to the room just off the foyer. The green color he’d chosen was earthy and the room was comfortable. Jason saw that except for the new paint and the addition of an oversized rug- all white and cream colored- and a new console table against a wall containing a new stereo system, the room was much the same as it had been the last time he was in the house. The same pictures hung on the walls in the same spaces, the chairs were in the same configuration, the TV sat in the same place.

“It looks nice,” Jason said. “You could use more décor items, though.” He riffled through his bag with his free hand.

Tommy laughed. “And what do you know about décor items, Jase? Didn’t you tell me that Trini picked out half of your furniture?”

Jason scoffed. “I know candles are décor items.”

“Oh, no. Not again.”

Jason’s hand found the waxy surface of the lime scented pillar candle he’d recently bought just for this occasion. He yanked it out of his bag and pushed it into Tommy’s hands. “You should be thankful. I haven’t even burned this one yet.”

Tommy shook his head. “It’s amazing that you haven’t scarred me for life with all of these damn green candles over the years.”

“I’m just making sure you don’t develop irrational fears.”

“I’m not sure my wanting to avoid green candles right after one almost killed me was an irrational fear.”

Jason shrugged. Tommy rolled his eyes, but he was smiling and he put the candle down on the console table near the stairs. “Thanks Jase. Your gift is very thoughtful. Most of the work we’ve been doing is upstairs. Let me show you.”

Tommy started up the stairs and Jason followed behind him. “’We’? Who have you roped into helping you?”

“The Dino team. The kids haven’t left town just yet and the only one who ever works is Trent. He’s here a lot too and Hayley helps sometimes, but it’s mostly Kira, Connor, and Ethan here just about every day.”

“Will they be over this weekend? I’d love to meet them.” He saw Tommy’s shoulders tense in front of him. “What’s wrong?” He asked as they neared the top of the stairs.

“They are driving me nuts.” Tommy said, turning to face Jason. They’re here all of the time. They are in and out of every room. Don’t get me wrong, they’ve gotten a ton of stuff done,” he motioned at the hallway that they were in, new paint on the walls and that ugly old carpet finally ripped up, “but I just need a break. I told them to take a few days this weekend and enjoy the holiday on Monday, and they are coming by later next week to help me with refinishing the hardwoods up here. I promise you’ll get to meet them at some point; maybe I’ll have something once all of this is done. I just need my distance from them for a few days.”

“That’s fair enough.” Jason agreed and motioned Tommy to continue the tour.

__________

Tommy was proud of how well he had held himself together that day. He and Jason had spent a great deal of time talking about the completed rooms and the updates that he was still planning before they had started painting.

It took ages to paint the kitchen. The counters and cabinets got so in the way that there had only been two stretches of wall that they could actually use rollers to paint. Everything else had to be brushed on by hand. His kitchen, while by no means cavernous, wasn’t exactly small either.

While they painted, Tommy did his best to keep the topics of conversation to his recent team and their battles as well as asking about Jason’s work. He did his best to avoid talking about Jason’s upcoming wedding or their shared Ranger past, for fear that either might bring up Kim. Jason had seemed none the wiser and had gone along with each conversation, asking questions and telling stories. They had gone out for dinner at the local Applebees (he’d sent Kim a quick text in the bathroom before they left the house to make sure she was clear of the area; she was). When they got back, they did a second coat on the trim work, deciding to leave the second wall coat for the next day as they both complained to each other about their sore backs.

Tommy directed Jason to the spare bathroom to shower while he showered in his own master bathroom. Before getting into the shower, he sent Kim a quick message. _Still doing okay keeping my mouth shut. We’re going to bed soon. Kitchen is looking pretty good. Goodnight._

_Goodnight, Tommy!_ She responded.

__________

When Tommy came back into the master bedroom, showered and dressed for bed, Jason was already in the room, staring at the pictures on either side of the mirror above the bureau as he rubbed his towel against his hair. Tommy could see the far off look in Jason’s eyes through the reflection in the mirror. “Okay there, bro?” He asked, making Jason snap out of his reverie.

“Yeah, just feeling nostalgic.” Tommy nodded in acknowledgement, not trusting himself to say anything. Jason continued after looking back at one of the pictures again. “I, uh, want to talk to you about something with the wedding…”

“By how hard you’re staring at that picture, I’m going to guess it has something to do with Kimberly.” Tommy said. He knew that this was coming at some point and had spent a slightly longer than normal shower trying to get into the headspace he’d been in just a month ago, before he’d bumped into Kim and all of his anger and sorrow had burned away at the sound of her voice. For the past several years, Kim had been a topic of conversation that the two always inevitably stumbled upon for at least a short time any time they were left alone together. Tommy alternated between being mad, sad, and blasé depending on his moods.

“Yeah, she’s going to be Trini’s Maid of Honor.”

“You already told me that when I accepted Best Man.” He frowned, wondering how much of Kim’s confidences Jason was about to reveal. On one hand, he didn’t want Jason to say too much because it would upset Kim. On the other, Tommy-from-a-month-ago would have pulled at any loose string that Jason inadvertently presented if it meant getting more information about Kim. He had to play this carefully so he didn’t expose himself and didn’t force Jason to ruin Kim’s trust in her brother.

“Well, she actually sort of turned it down at first?”

“Why?!” He figured he could some fun with this play acting. “She and Trini are best friends.” He took a short dramatic pause, then, “she doesn’t want to see me,” he said sounding miserable, grimacing.

“I don’t know, man.” Jason said, walking over to where Tommy was sitting on the bed and dropping a comforting hand on his shoulder. Tommy dropped his face in his hands to try to hide his smile and to compose himself. “I think she’s embarrassed about everything that went down between you two and she’s dealing with a bunch of other shit…”

“Like?” Tommy prompted. This is where the trouble could begin, but Jason would have been suspicious if he didn’t dig.

“Like things that aren’t my story to tell.”

“Oh, come on, Jase! Throw me a bone here.”

Jason sucked in a breath, frowned, and shook his head. “I wish I could. I really do, Tommy. Look, I’m going to do all I can to get her to talk things through with you before the wedding, but this isn’t my story to tell and she’d kill me if I said anything. You know how her temper always was.”

“Then why even bring all this up?” He asked, sounding petulant. _Well, apparently I’m mad Tommy today._ He thought ruefully. He wished he’d somehow thought to record this for Kim; she’d get a kick out of how he was handling the conversation.

“I just wanted to, I don’t know, warn you, I guess. Kim’s going through some stuff right now and depending on what happens, I might need you to… I just need to know that you’re going to be okay being in close proximity with her.”

“Jason, what does that even mean?”

“Just, she might need some extra physical support getting up and down the aisle and I want to make sure you are really okay walking with her?”

“Extra physical support? Jason, tell me what is wrong with Kim,” Tommy demanded. Jason’s face looked worried and Tommy was afraid he was about to break and tell him, so he gave him the best out he could. “Is she hurt or something?”

“Yeah,” Jason said, rubbing at his temples. “She might not be at full strength for the wedding.”

It was time to try to end the conversation. “Look, Jase. You know I’ll do anything you ask of me for this wedding. If that means helping Kim down the aisle, I’ll help her and I’ll smile while I’m doing it for the pictures.”

Jason nodded his thanks. An uncomfortable look crossed his face, but he forced out the thought all the same. “It would probably be a good idea if you guys saw each other before the actual wedding; maybe mitigate some of the awkwardness.”

“Isn’t that what the rehearsal dinner is for?”

“I mean, I guess, it’s just that… well, you said something earlier about maybe having a thing here when the house is done. Maybe you could do a ranger reunion for all the teams you served on?”

“Yeah,” Tommy said, letting a smile cross his lips, liking the idea. He and Kim could reveal their _whatever-this-was-ship_ in spectacular fashion in front of everyone all at once. “I’d love to see everyone again. I haven’t seen anyone from Zeo in _ages_. The kids would all love to see their predecessors too.”

Jason smiled at him. “We really need to get better at having Ranger meetups as a whole organization,” Jason joked. His smile softened. “How would you feel if I reached out and invited Kim, when you have it?”

Tommy let out a breath like Jason had punched him in the lungs, his facing going grim. Jason’s suggestion actually bothered him a bit after years and years of begging Jason to get him in touch with Kim. “You’ve refused to let me contact her for years and just like that, she’ll be okay to come to a party at my house?”

“Fuck, Tom, listen…”

Tommy shook his head and cut him off, realizing that the whole thing was moot since he and Kim had reconnected and he was going to go back into the bathroom in a few minutes and text her about the whole idea himself. “God, I’m sorry Jase. She’s a ranger. Of course you can invite her. I’m being an ass. It’s just, that letter has been hanging over my head so long, and it just hurt me so much…”

“I know. I’m going to try to get her to come to the party and talk to you, I really am.”

Tommy nodded, wiping at his eyes to keep them hidden from Jason. They were actually completely dry, even though that last bit of conversation had hit a nerve, but he couldn’t let Jason know that. Turning away from his friend, he got off the bed and headed toward the bathroom, glad that his phone was still in his pocket. “Just give me a second,” he said when he heard Jason stand from the bed behind him. He closed the bathroom door behind him, turned on the faucet of the sink, and pulled out his phone, sending Kim a quick update on his conversation with Jason.

_I’m going to have to have a Ranger reunion party when the house is done. Does that sound like a good time for the big reveal? Also just had a convo with Jason about the wedding. He wanted to know if I’ll be okay being in “close physical proximity” with you and possibly helping you down the aisle because you’re, and I quote, “going through some stuff.” I think we’ll manage, right?_ _😉_

He sent off the message and made sure his ringer and vibration setting were turned off for text messages before sticking the phone back in his sweatpants pocket. He’d be able to hold off checking for her reply until tomorrow. He turned off the water and went back to his room.

Jason luckily seemed to have dropped further conversation about Kim and moved onto other wedding related topics. Jason didn’t want to do too much for his bachelor party- he was content with getting his groomsmen together for a weekend, watching whatever football could be found on TV, drinking beer, and having Rocky cook for them all. Tommy volunteered his house. By the beginning of October when Jason had requested the party, the house would be complete and would have plenty of room for Jason’s entourage. “No strippers,” he said, pointing at Tommy.

Tommy had snorted, “Jase, seriously? This is me you asked to be your Best Man. I wasn’t going to get you strippers even if we went to Vegas.”

__________

Mid-morning on Sunday when they were back to painting the kitchen, Jason asked another question that Tommy had to do his best to skirt around. “We’re going to be sending out invitations the end of August,” Jason said. “Should I give you a plus one?”

The question really was _are you coming to my wedding alone?_ The answer, of course, was no, he was definitely not going to the wedding alone. He was going with the Maid of Honor and had already booked a room, paying a bit extra to upgrade from two doubles to a single king sized bed in a suite to share with her, not that he was about to tell Jason that.

He and Kim were in a nebulous place at the present moment. They weren’t dating exactly- they hadn’t actually kissed again yet, but they weren’t _not_ dating either. They had both admitted their love for the other and Tommy was positive that Kim’s love for him was about as purely platonic as his was for her, which was to say, not at all.

It was possible that by time the wedding rolled around, they would still be in the same place, but Tommy didn’t think that was likely. He could feel their time together building up. He was doing his best to make sure he didn’t rush her, but their second _first kiss_ was looming on the horizon of their relationship, getting closer quickly. Plus, her willingness to reveal whatever it was that they were to their friends made Tommy think that Kim was just as set as making something romantic between them a reality as he was.

Not that he could tell any of this to Jason.

So was he going to the wedding with someone? Yes, he was. Was that someone his girlfriend? She almost assuredly would be by time they hit October. Did he need a plus one? Nope.

“Tommy?” Jason asked and Tommy realized he’d been quiet too long. “Something you want to tell me?”

“I’m not sure yet if I need a plus one.” Tommy said. “I sort of started seeing this woman but it’s really new, only a month old, and we’re taking things slow so we can get to know one another…”

“But you think you’ll still be together when the wedding comes around,” Jason said, looking a little sad, but Tommy could tell he was trying to mask it. He was going to be tickled pink when he found out it was Kim.

“I don’t really know,” Tommy fibbed. “It’s still too early to say. I haven’t figured out my feelings let alone hers.” Absolute blasphemy was pouring from Tommy’s lips. “Can you give me to the end of August to figure it out?” 

Jason smiled tightly, “sure, bro. I hope it works out for you. Keep me posted.”

“Thanks. I hope it works out too.”

__________

Jason tossed his bag in the back seat of his sedan and got into his car, waving at Tommy who was standing on the porch, before he put his car in drive and made his way back out toward the main road. Instead of turning left, towards the freeway that would lead him back home, he turned right, heading towards town and the apartment that he’d helped Kim move into two years ago.

Jason’s main goals when he had made the plans to visit Tommy this weekend had been to gage how his friend would handle Kim at the wedding and to catch up, since it had been a while since they had last spent time together. He couldn’t deny that he’d also planned all along to drop in and see how Kim was doing. He was concerned about her, especially knowing that she was considering another surgery when she had been stable and seizure-free for so long now.

Jason parked in the parking lot in front of her building and went into the main lobby, pressing the call button for her apartment. After a few moments, her voice came over the intercom, “Hello?”

“Hi Kim, it’s Jason.” He heard a buzzing sound- she’d unlocked the door so he could get into the building and he pulled it open, making his way to the back of the building where her apartment was. She was standing in her open doorway, a frown on her face.

“Jason? I didn’t know you were coming to visit. Is everything all right?” She ushered him inside and he sat on her couch.

“Yeah, I spent some time visiting Tommy this weekend.”

“Ah,” she said. Then more quietly, worrying her hands, “how is he?”

“Still heartbroken over the letter. You need to talk to him, Kim.”

Kim rolled her eyes, “we’ve had this conversation a thousand times, Jason. Nothing’s changed.”

“Nothing except that you two are going to be forced to spend a lot of time together during me and Trini’s wedding weekend. He deserves to know, Kim.”

“I’ll burn that bridge when I get to it.” She said flippantly and Jason didn’t feel like that sounded all that promising. “Anyway, I can’t focus on him, right now with…”

“The surgery. Yeah, I want to talk about that too.” He sighed, rubbing a hand down his face. “Have there been more seizures?”

“No.”

“Headaches or dizziness?”

“No.”

“Then why are you doing this now? I don’t understand. You’re in a good place.”

Kim let out a groan of frustration. “I hate taking all these pills and not being able to drive and living in fear of this thing in my head. They might be able to take enough of it that I don’t have to deal with any of that anymore. I want my life to be normal.”

“Everyone’s normal is different.”

“I want my normal to be the normal I was used to before I went to Florida.”

“Well, that’s not going to happen.” Jason realized that he sounded bitter, but he couldn’t help it. Kim had always seemed incomplete without Tommy. Tommy had always seemed incomplete without Kim. Jason finally had Kim in a situation where he was going to be able to force her to tell Tommy what happened. He had always been sure that Tommy would have been ready to take Kim back and forgive her duplicity the second he found out the real reason behind the letter.

But Jason knew Tommy all too well. He said he didn’t know how he felt about his new girlfriend, but Jason saw it in his face. He was absolutely besotted with her. At only a month in, and with the level of smitten he’d seen on Tommy’s face, this woman had a hold on Tommy’s heart that Kim had never come close to matching.

“What’s that supposed to mean?” Kim said, hands on her hips as she stood before him.

“Your normal had a lot of Tommy in it.” He said. “You waited too long. He’s seeing someone.”

“Oh,” Kim said, her hands dropping to her sides. “Well, that’s good. I’ve always wanted him to be happy and to move on.”

“You two would have been happy together if you’d just told him like I kept telling you to.” Jason leaned back against the couch cushions. “I think he really likes her. The look on his face said it all.” When he looked over at Kim, she was frowning at him. “I’m sorry, Kim.” He wasn’t sure if he was apologizing for Tommy’s new relationship, for the _I-told-you-so_ he’d just thrown in Kim’s face, or for both. Kim just shrugged and sat down on the other end of the couch.

“He deserves to be happy.”

“So do you.”

“Feeling like I’m control of my life again will make me happy.”

“And this surgery will do that?”

“Maybe. Look, I know you hate the idea of it on principle. That’s why I didn’t tell you until I knew that I was at least a viable enough candidate to get a full consult and why I told Trini instead of you. I need to talk to the neurosurgeon and see if this has any plausible chance of working. If it does, I need to do it for myself, Jason. I want to be able to run my business and quit working retail. I want to be able to walk around without a pharmacy in my purse. I want to be able to drive again. I want to be able to find a relationship and maybe have a family and house and all that one day. I can’t do any of that until I can deal with my tumor and get off some of these medications.”

Jason nodded, feeling a little guilty for unloading on Kim. He knew that keeping her hormones regulated was important to make sure the seizures didn’t start up again and he knew that necessarily prevented her from being able to safely become pregnant. He knew that more than anything else, Kim wanted a relationship with a man that loved her and she wanted to be able to have a family with him, but she felt that it wasn’t fair to start a relationship with someone who wanted kids when she knew that she couldn’t carry a child herself. That, Jason suspected, was why Kim had dug her heels in and refused to tell Tommy about the tumor, even after he had passed on the Power Ranger mantle. “When do you find out if you can have the surgery? Do you know when exactly it will be?”

“I have an appointment near the end of July with the hospital here to get my scans and bloodwork done. They’ll send the results to the neurosurgeon and I guess she’ll let me know from there.”

“I can drive up. You should have someone with you at your appointment.”

Kimberly scoffed at him, “I can _walk_ to the hospital, Jason. You have a two and a half hour drive. You would be sitting in a waiting room while I got blood taken and a scan done, so it’s not like you could even be there with me. I’ll let you know when the surgery is, _if_ there’s a surgery. I’ll have to get down to UCLA anyway for that.”

“You really don’t have to do all this alone, Kim.”

Kim smiled at him and rolled her eyes. He wasn’t getting anywhere with her today.

Jason finally left Kim’s apartment thirty minutes later, calling Trini as soon as he got in his car to let her know that he’d be stopping by her place to tell her about his visit with Tommy and with Kim. As he hung up and turned out of the parking lot into the flow of traffic, he began to rehearse how to tell the bad news about Tommy’s new relationship to Trini.

__________

“So, I heard from Jason that you’ve got yourself a new girlfriend,” Kim teased as soon as Tommy answered his phone.

“ _I told him I had just started seeing someone and I didn’t know where it was going yet._ ”

“Yeah? Well Jason said that your face said you like her.” Kim couldn’t help the giggle that made it past her lips. “I thought we talked about your poker face.”

“ _Yeah, well, I never could hide how I felt about you._ ”

A thrill shivered up Kim’s spine at Tommy’s confession. They were moving faster than she had originally intended, but it all felt so right. Really, most days, it felt like they were moving far too slow. “So, how does the kitchen look?”

“ _Like a kitchen,”_ he told her unhelpfully. “ _You’ll have to come see it. When can I see you? I miss you._ ”

Her heart fluttered again. “I miss you too, Handsome. Well, we’re closed tomorrow, obviously, but I work early on Tuesday and get off at one, and I don’t have to be in until three on Wednesday.”

“ _Can we see each other tomorrow?”_

“Tomorrow might be hard. I know it’s a holiday, but with all the shifts I’ve been picking up at the store and spending time with you, I really need to devote the day to a couple of my consulting projects.”

_“Can I take you home with me on Tuesday, then?_ ”

“What room are we going to paint?”

“ _We don’t have to paint._ ”

“With this Ranger reunion you agreed to at the end of August… yes, we certainly do. You need to get this house done and I know you haven’t been painting without me. Except for the kitchen of course.”

Tommy groaned over the line. “ _I pulled the woodpaneling down in the office the other night. There wasn’t a ton of damage to the drywall. It looks like they just put it up with nails but no glue. I can work on filling holes tonight with spackle and sand all that down tomorrow. Are you okay with me coming to pick paint and whisking you away as soon as you’re done your shift on Tuesday?_ ”

“Sounds perfect to me.”


	6. Navy

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The office gets painted, Tommy makes waffles

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I've literally had this written for months. I've also absolutely hated two sections of this chapter since the moment I wrote them. One I mostly fixed, the other I still hate (although slightly less). 
> 
> Also, this chapter was originally twice as long, but the whole second half is set several days after the first and a lot goes on, so I chopped it off to be moved into the next chapter. So, good news- the next chapter is almost done being written. Bad news- this chapter is only 10 pages of word document instead of 18.

Chapter 6: Navy

“I read somewhere that working in a blue room is supposed to help you focus,” Tommy said as he opened the gallon of paint. “Plus, I figured you can’t go wrong with navy blue walls and white trim work.”

“Yeah, it’s a pretty classic combination.” Kim agreed.

Tommy couldn’t help but sneak a glance over at Kim. She was draping a drop cloth over his desk which was just too big to move out of the room, especially since the ceiling was only going to need one coat.

No matter how focusing blue paint made a room, he wasn’t sure he’d ever be able to focus on anything but Kim if she were within its walls. Tommy wondered what it would be like if Kim were here all of the time; if they woke up in a shared bed every morning, if she puttered around the house barefoot every weekend, if she ate dinner with him every night… He took a deep breath, forcing himself to turn back to his task with the paint cans. They had only started talking again just under a month ago. It was entirely too soon to imagine Kim living with him, he reminded himself. Their relationship wasn’t to that level yet.

“This is going to be so much better without that weird paneling.” Kim said as she came up behind him, squeezing his left shoulder lightly with one of her hands.

“Definitely,” he said, trying to focus on pouring the paint into the roller tray without melting into a pile of goo at Kim’s touch.

“So, when will you start getting ready for school to start again?” She asked, glancing back toward his now covered desk.

Tommy groaned, which drew a surprised laugh from Kim. “I _just_ ended last school year. I barely slept for a week trying to grade papers, lab reports, and final exams. Please don’t bring all of that up again.”

“Well, you are the one that sets the homework for your classes, assigns the papers, _and_ writes the exams, are you not?” Tommy sent a withering look over his shoulder at Kim, which only made her laugh again. “It’s your own fault then. But maybe if you had everything for the year prepared in advance, it might help?”

“Yeah. They’re flipping around a few of my classes, so there’s one that I need to come up with the syllabus and schedule and everything more or less from scratch, but the other two classes I’m teaching next semester I taught last year as well, so I can just modify it. It’s just that last year was my first-year teaching, so I learned a lot and therefore need to modify a lot.”

“If you get it done early, then you don’t have to find as much time to fit it in during the school year.”

“Maybe,” he agreed. “I’ve needed this break to focus on something else, but I can’t deny that I’d love to not have to worry about doing quite so much last-minute planning during the school year.”

“Then maybe you should work in time to start getting all of that together.”

“I will,” Tommy promised, “but I still want to focus just on getting the house together, at least for the next week or two. After that, I think I’ll have enough done that I can put some time towards planning. I just want to make sure that I’m not having to rush too much to get the house together before that party.”

“So, that’s really happening?” Kim didn’t actually sound surprised, but Tommy could feel nerves flowing off her in waves.

“Yes, it is.” Tommy passed Kim a roller tray full of paint and a roller, taking the other for himself. “You have to talk to them all, Kim. With it being at the end of August, you should have a good idea of what’s going on with the surgery.” Kim began rolling paint on the wall, but she was holding herself stiffly and her expression grim. “Hey,” Tommy said softly, putting his free hand on her back to get her attention. She looked up at him. “I’m going to be right next to you for all of it. And you know I’ll go evil Green Ranger on any of them that upset you, although I’m positive that they are all just going to be excited to see you. They miss you, Kim. They are going to be supportive. You don’t have to worry.”

“I just feel guilty, putting that stress on everyone.”

“If it makes you feel better, everyone else knowing is going to make it easier on Jason, Zack, Trini, Aisha, and I. It’s easier to deal with worry and stress when there are more people you can lean on.” He dipped his head and kissed her hair line. When he straightened back up, Kim nodded.

“I know I have to tell them. It’s just hard to think about. _How_ do I tell them?”

“Like you told me.”

“I didn’t have the courage to say anything until it was dark enough that we couldn’t see each other and until _you_ asked _me_.”

“Well, you had to tell me alone,” Tommy reasoned. “When you tell everyone else, you’ll have me and Jason there, at very least, although I would be surprised if the other three that know didn’t show up too. Especially when Jason starts badgering you to come to the party and you _finally_ agree to see me for the first time in years. I can’t imagine that he wouldn’t tell them so that you can show up with a small army of support,” He teased. Then more seriously assured her, “and if you need me or Jason to start the conversation with everyone else, you know we will.”

“Thanks, Tommy.” She reached out, catching his left hand in her right and gave it a squeeze before letting go and dunking her roller into the paint again. “What projects are you focusing on this week?”

“Well, I want to get all this set up,” he waved his hand vaguely toward the desk and the wall of bookcases. “The team is coming back on Thursday to work on stripping the floors upstairs. Kira is really invested in the floors, so she wants to help me finish them once I see how they look and decide exactly what I want to do with them. We may or may not have help from the boys. It might be nice to get the laundry room sorted out as well. It definitely needs new paint and I just found a shelving unit I like for in there, so I need to buy it, build it, and get it on the wall. And I think I need to find coat hooks or something for near the back door in there, but I haven’t found anything I like.”

“Pick your paint color first,” Kim advised. “The hooks take no time at all to put up, so you can grab them whenever you come across something you like. I could look at some of the design catalogues I get too and see if anything jumps out.”

“That would be great.”

__________

With only three walls to paint since an entire wall was bookshelves, the room being much smaller than most of their previous jobs, and only one window and one doorway in the entire room, the first coat and the coat of white on the ceiling was finished in no time. So, when Kim asked what books he was planning on putting in the room and he indicated seven still taped cardboard boxes in one of the guest bedrooms, she demanded to be allowed to organize them, which was fine by Tommy because it certainly wasn’t something he was itching to do himself. “My favorite books,” he told her as he carried the boxes down to the living room, where she could spread out as she worked, “are on the shelf in the master bedroom, as are all of the magazines I subscribe to. They’re good for reading just a bit before bed.” He explained. “The rest of these are novels that I like well enough to keep around, but, you know, not upstairs. Plus, I just planned on having all of my old textbooks and books about archeology, geology, and paleontology down here too so they’re all together.”

“Any type of order you’d like them in?”

“I’ve never had a bookshelf big enough for everything, honestly. I mostly just kept them grouped by subject- novels in one corner, archeology books shoved under my bed, biographies propping open the closet door.”

“You treat your books horribly,” she teased, hugging whatever book she’d just fished out of the boxes to her chest.

“I’m sure you won’t let my negligence continue. Do you want music or the TV on while you sort?”

She responded in the negative and shoo-ed him off to go take apart the old table in the kitchen so he could move in and build the new one he’d recently picked up. 

__________

After dinner, which Tommy made after he put together the new kitchen table, and a second coat of paint on the office walls, Tommy suggested that they get cleaned up and relax upstairs, which Kim readily agreed to. He let Kim shower first, pulling out a pair of boxers he could sleep in. He’d lit the candle she’d bought him which lived on the bureau then spent some time cracking open a few of the windows in several rooms upstairs to let in a cross breeze. It had been a few degrees cooler than was seasonal that day but still warm enough that the AC needed to be on. However, as the sun began to set and it got cooler still, the temperature was finally ideal to just turn on the ceiling fans and open up a few windows.

“It feels nice in here,” Kim said, coming out of the bathroom in shorts and a camisole top, her hair twisted up in a towel.

“I couldn’t resist the breeze,” he said, motioning over at the few open windows across the room and looked over toward them, aware that he was staring at Kim. “Summer breezes always smell so good.”

Kim hummed her agreement as Tommy crossed the room, drawn to her. He kissed her forehead as he passed her but forced himself to continue to the bathroom instead of letting himself linger. He knew he was only barely keeping himself from acting rashly. “I’ll just be a few minutes,” he said.

He closed the door behind him before stripping off his clothes and stepping in the shower. Under the hot spray, Tommy found his mind immediately jumping to Kim, and he fought to get his body under control.

His eyes had focused on Kim as soon as she had exited the bathroom. That was not unusual as he was often almost hyperaware of her. This time, he had been unable to keep his eyes from skimming down her body. The camisole had been form fitting and he could clearly see the curve of her breasts through the fabric, but it was her nipples, ever so slightly peaked, probably from the coolness of his room after exiting the warmth of the steam filled bathroom, that had him trying to catch his breath and control his baser instincts.

The whole image of Kim- her genuine, soft smile; her shapely legs; her slightly hardened nipples; and the absolute domesticity of the entire moment- had him reaching down to take care of himself. He was determined to let Kim make the next move in their relationship, but the wait was killing him _._

He washed quickly, making sure to scrub the paint off the back of his arm where Kim had earlier run a half-loaded paint brush down his triceps to his elbow. Once the shower was off, he didn’t waste much time in getting back to Kim, only taking enough time to pull the boxers up his legs and put on some deodorant.

Kim was waiting for him, lounging on the bed atop of the covers. Tommy’s heart beat a little faster, seeing the comfort she had developed in his home now as contrasted with the last time he’d come out of the shower to find her sitting in the chair instead of in bed. He watched Kim’s eyes scan his body and he barely stopped himself from preening. He was aware that he looked good and while attention from the teenagers he taught freaked him out, he was more than happy to show off his body if it was for Kim.

He settled himself on his side of the bed, opening his arms for Kim to cuddle into. He wasn’t sure if he wanted her to notice or not that his body began reacting to her proximity once she’d settled her head against his chest, her breath over his skin sending a thrill through his body.

He ignored it, instead bringing up a topic he’d been thinking on for several days. “You could leave some things here if you wanted to, so you don’t have to drag everything back and forth when you stay over. There’s plenty of space on those shelves in the shower for bottles of all your shower stuff. I’m only using two of the drawers in the vanity, so if you wanted to leave a brush or something… And I only have so much clothing, so I have an open drawer or two if you want to leave pajamas or spare clothes.” When she didn’t respond, he assured her, “you don’t have to, of course. But I have more than enough space and it might be one less thing to have to think about.”

“I’d like that,” she said quietly. “Thank you.”

They laid cuddled together for several minutes, each of them lost in their own meandering thoughts and enjoying just being able to be together like this. At some point, Tommy absently began running his fingers over Kim’s back, pausing to massage little circles into her shoulders before sweeping downwards again. Kim pressed herself closer to him, giving him better access to her back. Tommy could feel her body positively melting into his, her muscles increasingly more relaxed at every pass of his hand, until his fingers skimmed skin just above the waistband of her shorts, sitting low on her hips, where her shirt had ridden up.

He felt her body tense and he froze too, fingertips hovering above the skin he’d just touched. He wondered if he had accidently just overstepped Kim’s physical boundaries while simultaneously remembering that this had always been an egregious zone of Kim’s when they had been younger. “I’m sorry,” he uttered, his voice husky. “I didn’t realize your shirt had ridden up. Do you want me to stop?”

“No, please don’t.” Her voice was breathless. “I just wasn’t expecting…”

With her permission, Tommy dropped his fingers back onto the exposed strip of her soft skin, kneading it at a leisurely pace and feeling Kim’s body slowly start to relax again. He desperately wanted to swipe his thumb just under her waistband or to let his fingers wander ever so slightly up the bare skin of her back, currently covered by her shirt, but he held himself back, not wanting to feel her body tense again, especially since he wasn’t sure if she’d be okay with the contact.

Kim’s hand, which had been resting on his left pec, reached down to his left forearm, which was laying across his stomach, and she began tracing his tattoos there. Tommy wondered if Kim could hear his heart skip in his chest. He involuntarily pressed his thumb a little harder into the skin he was massaging, and he almost came undone at the little moan she let out.

He chuckled, trying to regain control of himself again. “You are going to be the death of me,” he whispered into her hair, needing to tell her.

“Right back at ya.” She sighed into his chest, nuzzling her face against him. “I’m just not-”

He gave her a one-armed squeeze as she continued to run her fingers along his other arm. “I’m not going anywhere,” he reminded her. “Take your time. I just had to make sure you had some idea of the hold you have over me.”

He felt her head shift on his shoulder and when he looked down at her, her face was smiling up at his. “Thank you. And just so you know, you get me just as hot and bothered.”

Tommy couldn’t help but laugh, both out of amusement of the turn of phrase she’d chosen and out of his own relief, which set Kim off giggling too. For the next fifteen minutes, anytime one of them stopped laughing, the chuckles of the other would set them off again.

When they’d finally both calmed down and caught their breaths, now laying face to face on their sides, Kim slowly drifting off to sleep with a smile on her face, Tommy wondered if that hadn’t been the opportune moment to kiss her.

__________

Tommy woke up just after 7AM, pleased that this time he got to float towards consciousness slowly, wrapped around Kim, instead of being rudely awakened by his teammates’ presence.

Kim was still sleeping like a rock. There was no sign that she was waking as Tommy pulled away and left the bed to use the bathroom, or when he came back to check on her and pull the covers up around her shoulders after he came back out.

Tommy padded downstairs and set to making waffles. While Tommy was abysmal at making eggs, he had an uncanny ability to get the waffle batter perfect every time and to put just enough batter into the iron so as to not have any holes in the waffle, but also not have the batter overflow out the edges. He made batter enough for five waffles, then rummaged through this cabinets until he found the bag of chocolate chips, which he kept just for waffle making purposes, and pulled some other mix-ins and toppings from the fridge and freezer.

Tommy was efficient as he made one waffle after another, adding toppings that could be warm, like butter and syrup, before sitting them in the microwave where they’d keep each other warm. He was happy with the spread of five waffles he put out in the end, all displayed on a tray with cups of hot tea, glasses of water, and silverware for both him and Kim. He carried it upstairs with him and into his room where he saw that Kim had shifted onto her back.

“Hey Beautiful,” he said softly, running his fingers down the side of his face after he’d put the tray down on the nightstand. “It’s time to wake up. I made breakfast.”

Kim blinked blearily up at him, seemingly trying to make sense of what he’d just said. She took a deep breath in and said, “I smell waffles.”

Tommy laughed. “I have several different varieties,” he promised before sitting on the bed, facing towards the center, and transferring the breakfast tray to the bit of bed between them.

“We have the traditional,” he pointed to the first waffle with butter and syrup already on top; “a blueberry waffle,” this one was pockmarked throughout with pieces of the fruit, but still cover in syrup as he knew she had always liked it; “one topped with strawberries,” the waffle was plain, fruit cut up on top, but an almost ridiculous amount of whipped cream piled high over the fruit; “chocolate chip,” this one also had chocolate syrup drizzled over it; “and, of course, the ice cream waffle,” this last waffle, the centerpiece of his breakfast offering, was topped with a scoop each of chocolate, vanilla, and strawberry ice creams.

“Can I eat dessert first?” Kim asked.

“You can. You just have to share.”

They dug in. Despite Kim asking about the ice cream topped waffle first, she only had three bites before digging into the blueberry waffle, which Tommy knew was her favorite. He’d barely gotten a forkful of it before she devoured the rest of it. Kim picked at the other four waffles after the blueberry one was gone. She only had a single bite of the chocolate chip waffle before she pushed it towards Tommy. “Too sweet.” She said. “I have no idea how you eat this. It gives me a stomachache.” Tommy finished the chocolate chip waffle himself; it was his absolute favorite.

They finished the strawberry topped waffle together, leaving a few pieces of the other two waffles. Tommy set the tray aside and laid back down with Kim, determined to have a little more time to relax with her before they got up and properly started their day.

“Thank you for breakfast,” Kim said, “I’m sorry I didn’t share the blueberry waffle.”

“My pleasure, and I made it for you. I remember that you used to get it every time we’d go out to breakfast.”

“It’s still my favorite, although now without gymnastics, I have to actually try to eat more balanced meals since I won’t just burn everything off like I used to. Every once in a while, though, I still can’t resist. I have to say that I’m surprised that you remembered my blueberry waffle order.”

“Why are you surprised?”

“Tommy, you didn’t remember _anything_ in high school.”

“I remembered plenty.”

“Yeah? Like your class schedule? Or setting your alarm before school? How often, exactly, did you leave your homework or a textbook or your notes at home?”

“So, I didn’t like school and didn’t make it a priority to remember it, sue me.” Kim shot him a look, but he preempted the comment he knew was coming. “It’s different when you’re a teacher than it is being the student. I’ll have you know that I remembered plenty of things that were important to me. The only times I was late for anything karate related was when Rangering got in the way. I remember your birthday and that your favorite backpack was that blue one. I remember that green jacket that you stole from me that I _still_ haven’t gotten back. I remember the foods you like and that you love the taste of jalapenos but eating them upsets your stomach and makes you puke later.”

Kim looked like she was about to cry.

“Why are you upset?”

“I’m not. I’m just surprised that you remember so much after how I hurt you.”

He pulled her hand up to his mouth, depositing a kiss to her knuckles. “I remember everything about you.”

Kim raised her eyebrow and gave him a challenging, albeit watery smile. “Oh really?”

Tommy thought for a split second, debating if he should throw at her another one of his innumerable completely clean, demur Kim-facts, or if he should step out of their comfort zone and tell her one of the more intimate things he remembered about her. Seeing her reclining on his bed, her shirt riding up so he could see the curve of her hips and remembering her admission last night that she was just as attracted to him as he was to her, he decided to go the intimate route.

“I remember all of the spots that make you melt or go wild. You always shivered whenever I kissed your hip,” he said, tracing the curve of a hip lightly with his fingertips. He felt her shudder and bit back his triumphant smile. “You liked when I nipped at, kissed, or sucked your collarbone, but never your neck.” He moved his hand up to ghost across her collarbone. “I’m still not sure if that was a discomfort thing or a hickey thing. Your eyes always would flutter shut if I kissed your forehead when we were making love, and you would keep them shut for a minute afterwards, but you don’t do the same thing when I kiss your forehead just in passing. I remember that your entire back is an egregious zone for you; you about lost it anytime I kissed your shoulder or put my fingers on bare skin at all. But this bit right here,” he pushed his hand under her back, and she lifted her lower back slightly off the mattress. He rested his palm flat on the section of her back he’d caressed the night before. “your eyes would roll back in your head if I did this,” he swiped his thumb across her back, level with her hips, while he let the rest of the fingernails on his hand trail behind.

She let out a little yelp, sitting up to escape his hand. “Alright. I give.”

Tommy shot up into a sitting position beside her. “Oh fuck. I went too far. I’m sorry, Kim. I just thought…”

Kim put a hand over his mouth, shutting him up mid-explanation. “I’m fine.” Tommy could see a blush run from her checks, down her throat and faded out over her chest. “It’s okay. You didn’t do anything wrong. It just got to be a bit too much for me to handle. I should know better than to play with fire when it comes to you.”

Tommy reached up, removing her hand from over his mouth and pulling her a little closer, so he could place a little kiss on the inside of her wrist. “You still wear the same perfume as you did in high school.”

Kim smiled, shook her head, and climbed into Tommy’s lap, hugging him as she buried her face in his neck. “You, Tommy Oliver, are entirely too perfect.”

__________

Tommy walked around the office with a paint brush and the paint can, adding paint to spots that weren’t quite right as Kim walked piles of his books in from the living room, standing them up on the bookshelves. She’d already told him that she had sorted the books by subject, then alphabetically by author. He paused in the paint touch up to put away the archeology books, which Kim wanted to live on the topmost shelf, but then mostly allowed her to work herself, watching as his old geology textbooks took up almost a full shelf on their own with Paleontology textbooks going onto the shelf under them. Over the course of an hour, almost the entire wall of bookcases were filled, Kim filling some of the open spaces with more of his old trophies that she’d found in another box, and several toy dinosaurs that nearly every Ranger he’d served with had presented him after he’d gotten his Paleontology degree.

They all thought they were so funny.

“You might want to put something on the walls now that all that paneling is gone.” Kim advised as they folded the drop cloth that had been shielding the desk from possible drips from the ceiling paint as it dried.

Tommy nodded. “I might put up a few floating display shelves. I have some fossils and models I’d like to display. Maybe a few prints I could prop up.” He shrugged, then offered offhandedly, “I guess I should put that magazine cover up too.”

“Magazine?” Kim asked.

Tommy scratched at the side of his neck, a self-conscious mannerism he’d never gotten over. “Yeah, when I was on the racing circuit after my Turbo days… I sort of ended up on the cover of one of the big racing magazines after I won this one race. It was a huge upset; I wasn’t even supposed to place at all. Rocky knew I was less than excited by the attention and thought it was hysterical and he got a really nice frame for it and all. He guilt trips me for not displaying his gift any time he comes over.”

“I miss Rocky.” Kim sighed. “And, well, all of them, but I really miss Rocky.”

“Should I be jealous?” Tommy asked, trying and failing to keep a straight face.

“I’d say yes, but ‘Sha’s interested, so I guess not,” Kim teased back. “But seriously, over the years, he’s tried to get in contact with me a couple of times. Every few months, he’ll call my mom to try to get in touch with me, and I know he’s badgered Jason more than a few times too. He’s sent me a few letters through Jason. He’s been worried. And I heard he’s a good cook from Hayley and everyone’s had his cooking but me at this point, so…”

“I’m sort of pissed the Power gave me the Red Zeo crystal instead of giving it to Rocky. With me breaking the established way of doing things and being the leader in white, then picking up Red, Rocky never got the chance to be in charge and he would have been awesome. I’m not surprised he’s been trying to get back in touch with you. He and I, we talked a lot after the letter. He thought I should have demanded that Zordon send me down to Florida to find out what happened; he was right, of course. I never really listened though; I knew how upset he was about Aisha leaving and I just—”

“Wrote him off a little?” Kim finished.

“Yeah. I really don’t understand why I was allowed to lead then. I was an awful leader during Zeo. Turbo too, but we found our successors to take over after so short a time, so that almost feels like it was just a continuation of Zeo.”

“You weren’t an awful leader, Tommy. And the Power doesn’t make mistakes. Didn’t the kids tell me that you told them that?”

Tommy shrugged. “I just should have been better. I was my best self when you were around and with Jason or Rocky as my second, but once you were gone, I spiraled, even before you got sick.”

Kim hugged him around the waist. “You kept all of your teams alive and you defeated the bad guys. That’s all you needed to do, and you did it.”

“I guess. But you’re here now and that makes me feel more like myself than I have in years.”


	7. Charcoal

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A rough day at work provides the catalyst that Kim and Tommy have needed.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm not going to lie, I totally spend the entire day after I post a chapter checking in on my stats to see my hit count go up. So, thank you all for reading. 
> 
> Extra thank yous for everyone that's given this story kudos and/or sent comments. I shriek when I read y'all's comments.

Chapter 7: Charcoal

Kira was nothing if not efficient when it came to stripping the floors. She went from one room to another, Connor following behind her marking pieces of wood that would need to be replaced, and Tommy followed behind him, doing his best to pull up the damaged pieces and put in the new ones he’d acquired with Connor helping him secure them. It looked like Tommy would be able to have wood floors throughout the second floor, although he was still unsure if he’d be able to or even should leave them their natural color or stain them first before sealing them.

He, Kira, and Connor had spent a significant time debating the issue. Kira thought he should stain them and that he should let her take up the seal on his master bedroom floors and stain that too. Tommy thought that Kira’s opinion was almost completely based on the fact that she was really enjoying working with the floor stripper and because she wanted to spend more time on the wood floors, which staining would allow her to do. Connor thought Tommy should stain all of the bedroom floors different colors and just put a carpet back in the hallway. Tommy felt that was in bad taste, but at least appreciated that Connor was siding with him over not doing anything to the master bedroom floor.

Tommy was still torn. He was leaning toward leaving all of the floors their natural hue and just sealing them for the sake of continuity but wasn’t really sure since he’d put in several pieces of new wood in the floors which were much lighter than the original pieces. He’d ask Kim’s opinion over dinner that night and let her look at the floors when she came over tomorrow night.

With the issue tabled, Tommy led his two teammates down to the kitchen where they all sat and relaxed with some coffee and talked about some of the other projects Tommy planned on completing that week. After a while, Tommy decided to bring up the Ranger Reunion party, figuring these two could tell Trent and Ethan. He’d already informed Hayley himself.

“So, Jason Scott was here last weekend, helping me paint.” Tommy began.

He watched as Connor’s eyes lit up. “Jason Scott like, Jason Scott the first Red Ranger?”

“The very same.” Tommy said, amused at his team’s perchance for hero worship. He couldn’t understand it, considering that he came into the Ranger family so early on, but he knew that each team, starting with their Turbo replacements, seem to feel more and more the same way as his team now did.

“Oh man, I would have LOVED to meet him.” Connor complained. Kira laughed at her teammate, but Tommy could see that at least on some level, she felt the same.

“Well, you have a chance yet. Jason and I talked about having a reunion of all my old teams once the house is done. I’m thinking August 27th. It’s a Saturday and after school has started again.”

“Why so late?” Kira asked. “You have us helping and Kim helps a lot too. We could get everything done well before then if we tried. I mean, you’re done your bedroom, the bathrooms have all been remodeled, the kitchen and living room are both painted and so is your office- those are most of the time-consuming rooms…”

Tommy sighed. He’d been trying to avoid this conversation, even as Kim had told him that it was okay if the kids knew. After a few minutes of debate, he decided that they’d find out anyway at the party, so he might as well tell them now to keep them off his back. “It has a little to do with mine and Kim’s history. We dated for a few years in high school.” Kira nodded seriously and Connor made a slightly disgusted face. “She was asked to train for the Pan-Globals in gymnastics, so she went to Florida to train. We were still dating, just long distance. She came back to visit for Christmas that year and she was complaining that she was having a lot of headaches. A few months after she went back, she sent me a ‘Dear John’ letter, breaking up with me.”

Connor’s face had hardened, “I’m sorry, she did what?”

“Why?” Kira asked, looking torn between sympathy for her mentor and teammate and her newfound friendship with the original Pink Ranger, whom she’d met up with several times at Cyberspace.

“I only found out a few weeks ago when I bumped into her.” Tommy admitted. “She has a brain tumor.” Connor’s face crumbled back into sympathy and Kira gasped. “She broke up with me because she was having seizures and the doctors thought the tumor was cancerous. It wasn’t, luckily, but she’s still struggling with part of the tumor being in her head. Only a few of the Rangers we served with know about what actually happened. She didn’t want to burden them, or me, so she’s kept quiet.”

“But she’s going to tell them all now.” Connor guessed.

“Yes, I’m sort of making her do it,” Tommy admitted. “The end of this month, I need to take Kim to UCLA for some tests to see if she’d be a good candidate for a new surgery to have the rest of the tumor removed. We wanted to wait until the end of August for the party because we should know by then whether she can have it and when it will be.”

Kira shuddered. “Brain surgery? That sounds terrifying.”

“Yeah, I think I’m way more scared than Kim is,” Tommy found himself admitting. “But that’s why it needs to be the end of August. Between losing at least a day or two with bringing her down there and dealing with the fallout, no matter which way it goes, plus Kim needing to come to terms with what ends up happening so she can prepare herself to tell the others, _and_ needing to finish up the house…” Tommy shrugged, “I just wanted to make sure I built in enough time.”

“Can we tell Ethan and Trent?” Kira asked.

“Please,” Tommy half begged. “I had to tell Hayley right after Kim told me and it wasn’t any easier telling you two.”

“Can we tell Kim we know?” Connor asked.

“Yeah, she probably won’t want to talk about it a lot, but she did tell me to tell all of you. But now that you guys know, you have to help us keep it from the other former Rangers.”

“But we haven’t _met-_ ” Connor began.

“Remember I caught you complaining when you heard from Hayley that Rocky sometimes takes over my house to cook for the local Rangers and you guys hadn’t been invited? Now that we’re no longer active, I can’t imagine that Rocky won’t extend an invite to you if he decides to spring this on me again. So, if you hear about him planning something, I need you to let me know so I can make sure Kim stays clear and they don’t catch me with her. Also, you are under no circumstances allowed to let them know that you’ve met her.”

“So, do any of the Rangers know what happened?”

“Jason does. So do Trini, Aisha, and Zack,” Tommy confirmed.

“But if Jason was over and he knows, why can’t we say anything to him?”

“If you only keep your mouths shut around one Ranger, it better be Jason. Kim and I are excited to watch is head explode when we tell him we bumped into each other without his help.”

__________

It took a while to completely convince his Yellow and Red Rangers of the importance of keeping Kim’s presence and diagnosis a secret from the other Rangers, and even longer to convince them that at the party they had to treat her like they hadn’t met her, the same as any of the other Rangers. Tommy felt confident that they’d follow his instructions all the same though. Connor was excited to be in on “punking” the older Rangers, as he put it.

Tommy was surprised when he got to Kim’s apartment at 6:55 on Thursday night to pick her up for dinner only to find that she wasn’t there. He checked his phone and found that she’d sent several text messages, the last one only having been sent a few minutes before. _Still hiding, no gun shots for the last few minutes. Not sure if he ran out of rounds or finally figured out shooting at the police is a bad idea._

“Gun shots?” Tommy tried to keep his panic at bay and scrolled toward the top of the messages that he’d received from Kim that day, hoping for an explanation. A little after 9AM there was the message confirming that she’d get off work at 6PM. Next came the message just before 10AM where she’d texted him that she’d gotten into work safely. Both he’d read earlier in the day. Then, he saw the message that came in at 4:53PM- while he was talking to the teens.

_Just so you know, we heard some gun shots nearby. We think it’s in the apartments across the street. Police have been called and Pat and I, with a few customers, are sheltering in place. Waiting to hear from the cops if it’s safe to evacuate._

At 4:57- _Definitely coming from the apartments across the street. There were a bunch more shots. I looked out from the back room and we have three shots through the windows in the front. No police yet._

5:02- _Police here. Still hearing shots. The police dispatchers called the store and said to stay put and they’ll let us know when it’s safe to leave._

5:14- _No more shots for the last ten minutes or so and there are a ton of cop cars out front. We can hear them trying to get the shooter to talk to them because they’re using the bullhorn. It sounds like we have a full standoff._

5:33- _We think it’s a domestic dispute gone crazy. I hope everyone is alright._

5:42- _…and more gun shots. I think he’s trying to shoot the police. This is not going to end well for this guy._

6:13- _Sorry for being quiet for so long. I guess this has made more than the local news and Jason called me freaking out. I think I talked him out of driving up, but we’ll see. Still okay. There haven’t been anymore shots into the store._

6:32- _We’re still okay. I don’t think you’ve read any of these yet, or I would have heard from you freaking out. You’re probably on your way to my apartment. If you knock on the door for 103, Mrs. Matters has a spare key for my place she can give to you. I texted her already to expect you._

Tommy buzzed apartment 103- telling the woman who answered over the intercom that his name was Tommy Oliver and Kim said he could talk to her for a key to Kim’s apartment. The woman buzzed him in, meeting him at Kim’s door to let him in. “Did you hear what’s happening?” The woman asked after introducing herself.

“Yes. Kim’s been sending me a running commentary over text message. I hope this ends soon.”

The woman nodded grimly, letting him into the apartment and telling him to knock on her door if he needed anything.

Tommy made a beeline for Kim’s bed, sitting on the edge and turning on the TV. It was already set to the local news station and there was a helicopter hovering over downtown.

“-has just arrived. It looks like the police are going to attempt to end the standoff by force. Sources on the ground are saying that there haven’t been any more shots fired from the Chesapeake Apartment complex for the last five minutes or so…” Tommy turned down the volume on the TV, finding that it was hard for him to concentrate while the blow by blow commentary was filling his ears. He kept half an eye on the screen- it was just showing shots of the police and SWAT gathering, probably to come up with their game plan- and started texting Kim back.

_I just got to your apartment. I didn’t see any of your messages before I left home. Are you still doing alright?_

He waited impatiently for her to answer, his knee bouncing as he alternated glances between his phone screen and the TV. After a few minutes she responded. _Yes. I’m okay. Just a little frustrated. I feel like I should be doing something._

_You stay right there, Kim._

_I know, I am. I just hate feeling useless when people are in danger._

_Just hold on, it looks like they have a SWAT team there. This really is all over the news._

_I can hear a helicopter. I think it’s right over our building._

_It is._ He confirmed. _Just hang on, Beautiful._

She didn’t respond, but Tommy felt better having heard from her, especially since he could watch the coverage on TV and would have a good idea if anything changed. After another ten minutes or so, Kim texted again. _It just got very loud._ Tommy focused on the TV, turning up the volume as the SWAT team entered the lobby of the apartment building and other officers spread themselves around the building.

_SWAT’s going in and it looks like officers are surrounding the building so the shooter can’t escape._

There was a tense ten or so minutes before three SWAT officers came out of the building carrying a man, flailing, between them, with two more SWAT officer behind them, guns drawn and pointing at the man. As soon as they were out, another SWAT officer waved in police and EMTs.

_They are saying over the bullhorn to stay sheltered._ Kim texted.

_I think they got him. TV just showed a guy fighting the cops being carried out and EMTs are going inside._

Tommy relaxed more as EMTs started coming out of the building supporting victims who were mostly walking on their own. It was probably over if they were getting people out of the building. The news station seemed to realize that the drama was over as well because they cut back to the anchor in the studio. Tommy turned off the TV, waiting for Kim to text or call that she was on her way back. He stayed sitting on the edge of her bed, staring at the blank TV screen until the phone buzzed in his hand.

It was Billy, not Kim as he had hoped. _Hey Tommy, I just had the news on and Reefside is all over it. There’s a standoff going on. You aren’t close by, are you?_

_Hey Billy. I saw it too. It looks like it just ended. I’m a bit away from it- I was meeting up with a friend, so I’m closer than I’d normally be. I know that area well though._

_Does it look like everyone made it out alright?_

_I didn’t see any stretchers or body bags coming out before they went back to the studio on the local station, so it looks like it might have all ended without any casualties._

_Good. I’m glad you’re alright. Just needed to check up on you._

_Thanks man._

Tommy went back to waiting, letting himself fall backwards on Kim’s bed. He stared up at the ceiling until his phone buzzed again. _Police just came around. They are asking us to give statements, so it’s going to be a bit before I get home. We also need to call corporate to report the window. Pat’s going to drive me home. I’ll be there as soon as I can._

_Okay, Beautiful. I’m glad you’re alright. I’ll be here._

Tommy felt a pressure lift on his chest and breathed a little easier. It was pushing 7:45 and Tommy noticed that with the sun setting behind the taller buildings around Kim’s, it was beginning to get dark in the apartment. He pushed himself up from the bed, walking over to the floor lamp behind the couch and turning that on before going back to turn on the lamp on top of her bookshelf next to her bed. He saw that she had a stack of books, the little white stickers with series of number and letters printed neatly on them indicating that they were borrowed from the library.

His cell phone buzzed again- a message from Jason checked up on him with the standoff situation. Halfway through responding, he got a message from Justin, then Rocky, then Tanya, then Zack. He answered each, reassuring them that he hadn’t been near the standoff. He then sent a group message to the Dino Thunder team and Hayley, just double checking that they had been well clear of the situation. He quickly got back responses from all five that they were all at Cyberspace, so they were safe.

Still waiting for Kim, Tommy looked around for something to amuse himself. His eyes caught the stack of library books again and he wondered what books she had borrowed.

The book on top of the pile displayed half of the well-toned, muscular torso of a man while the other half of his body was obscured by the negligee clad back of a woman. He flipped the book over, reading the back and realized that Kim had picked herself up a stereotypically cliched supermarket romance novel. He rolled his eyes, unsurprised at her choice. He flipped the book open, finding that she had begun reading, although she was only about fifty pages in. Her place was marked with a photo of him in green, grinning up at the camera as he sat on a picnic blanket near the Angel Grove lake. He found himself grinning, knowing that she was reading a steamy romance novel with a picture of him close at hand.

He looked at the other two books, finding one about pterosaurs. He wasn’t completely sure what had made her pick it up; she might have grabbed it based on her history with the pterodactyl zord or it could be because he was a paleontologist and she wanted to have at least this dino knowledge in common with him. This didn’t have any bookmark, so Tommy figured she hadn’t started reading it yet.

The last book he recognized as being one he owned himself- Kim would have just put it on the bookshelf in his office a few days ago. It was a book he’d used when he was researching his thesis for his Master’s degree and he’d referenced the book as well when he began writing his dissertation, not to mention that every once in a while he just picked it up to read for pleasure. He picked it up, flipping through the book until he came to her bookmark- an old photo of the two of them with Aisha, Rocky, Billy, and Adam at a dance the beginning of their junior year. She’d made it almost two thirds of the way through the book. Tommy had no doubt that Kim had little if any real interest in geology, the book’s subject, and it warmed him to realize that she had borrowed and been reading the book because she realized that it was a book that interested him.

He heard the apartment door open, and Kim appeared. He dropped the book, jumped off the bed, and was across the room in a flash. He pulled Kim into his arms, hugging her tightly. She was hugging him back just as hard. “I’m so glad you’re alright,” he whispered into her hair, dropping kisses on her hair line, her forehead, her temple, anywhere he could reach. He could feel her shaking, so he separated from her only enough to pick her up, her legs wrapped around his back, and he carried her to her bed. He kicked off his shoes, taking off hers as well, before he got onto the bed, Kim quickly burying herself into his chest. He held her tightly against him, rubbing her back in soothing strokes until she calmed.

“I’m sorry,” she croaked out several minutes later. “I was fine, but as soon as I saw you, I realized just how scary that was and I just…”

“It’s okay. You’ve probably been running on adrenaline since you heard the first gunshots.” Kim nodded into his chest. “You’re alright now. You’re safe.”

Kim spent several more minutes calming down. Eventually she loosened her hold on Tommy. “I’m sorry I was so late for our dinner plans.”

“Not your fault. Anyway, Whiskey Vine’s kitchen doesn’t close until 11, so we still have time.” Kim’s eyes were still watery, so Tommy decided not to set her off again by talking about what had just gone on. He glanced around, looking for another topic to distract her when he remembered the library books. “So, I see you visited the library again,” he motioned to the stack to her right, which she turned to look at. He saw her blush. “I couldn’t help but notice you picked up a book on geology, one that I already own.”

“I, uh… well, I saw it when I was putting away the books in the office, and when I was in the science section I saw they had it so, I figured, why not?”

“Kimberly Ann Hart, you never liked science, and I know you certainly don’t like dirt. What were you doing in the geology section?” He teased, rolling so he was propped up on his side, his stomach pressed up against the right side of Kim’s torso. He was probably invading her space, but she wasn’t complaining and after being so worried, he needed the contact.

He watched Kim gulp before she turned her head locking her gaze on his. “That book was the most worn of all your geology books, so I went looking for it. I wanted to read a book that you liked about a subject you love.”

_This woman is perfect,_ Tommy thought. _How did I live without her all of these years? What would I have done if I’d lost her tonight?_

Tommy couldn’t stop himself. He leaned forward, crushed his lips to hers, and was infinitely pleased when he felt her lips moving against his. They broke off quickly, neither having really gotten a good breath in before the kissing had commenced, but quickly dove back in.

The second kiss was softer, both exploring the other’s lips again after so many years apart. This kiss was much longer. They broke for air again, both pulling back a little more. “I’ve been waiting to do that again for a long time,” Tommy admitted, darting in to place a quick peck on Kim’s lips. Then another.

Kim laughed. “Me too. Although why you chose to kiss me when my makeup’s probably running and I’m dusty and still in work clothes, I’ll never…”

Tommy kissed her again, cutting off her self-deprecation. “You are always beautiful. And I kissed you because you are the most considerate woman in the entire world, and I love you. And that deserves kissing.”

“Well, I guess I can’t complain when you say things like that!”

“Still feel up to going to dinner?” Tommy asked.

“Yeah, just let me shower really quick?” Tommy agreed and Kim scurried off the bed, grabbing clothes from her dresser and closing the bathroom door behind her. Tommy glanced back at the pile of library books, smiling contentedly, and picked up the romance novel to read while he waited for Kim to finish her shower.

__________

Kim had heard good things over the past years about Whiskey Vine, but she’d been too busy (and too single) to check it out. It turned out to be the perfect place after the evening she’d had. The dining room consisted of oak booths around the edge of the room with smaller tables evenly spaced in the middle of the open floor. She and Tommy were sat at one of the freestanding tables. They settled into their seats, both silently deciding to sit perpendicular to each other instead of across the table.

They both ordered the house wine, which was aged in a whiskey barrel, before looking over the menus. “You know,” Tommy said, staring at her instead of his menu, “I knew you had glasses and I’ve seen them in your apartment, but I think this is the first time I’ve ever seen you wear them. They’re cute on you.”

The waiter came back around with their wine and they ordered entrees. They chatted for a couple of minutes about coming to terms with needing glasses. “I avoided wearing them whenever I could, at first,” Kim said, “until I realized that the headaches weren’t so bad or frequent if I used them. It took a long time not to be embarrassed for having to wear them. I’ve gotten so used to them now that I can’t remember what I was embarrassed about anymore.”

“Yeah,” Tommy agreed. “When I started having trouble, I was absolutely determined that if I ignored it long enough, it would just go away. Then, I just kept putting going off because the whole thought of getting my eyes checked made me nervous.”

Kim shivered. “I need to get my eyes checked in two weeks. I don’t mind going all that much, but I dread that little puff of air.”

“Oh, man. That’s the worst. But what really gets me is the eye drops.”

“Really? That’s the easy part.”

“Nope. I cannot stand anything being near my eyes. The first time I went, my mom drove me, and they had to call her in to help hold my eyes open because I blink as soon as that drop gets anywhere close. Seven years later and I still don’t think they’ve ever managed to get a full drop in either of my eyes.”

“Does that make you stubborn or chicken?”

“Chicken. I’m absolutely chicken when it comes to my eyes.” Kim giggled at Tommy’s serious face.

Eyesight, for the moment, seemed an exhausted subject, so Kim asked, “how did the floors go today?”

“Oh, Kira’s gotten them all stripped. She’s determined to convince me to strip the seal off the floor in my room so she can stain the entire second floor. She had entirely too much fun with that floor stripper.”

“Have you made a decision on what you’re doing with the floors?” Kim was curious; Tommy had been holding out to see how the boards looked under the old paint and stains.

“They aren’t in bad shape. Connor and I were able to replace all of the boards in the bedrooms that looked too worn out. I still need to fix those couple in the hallway, but that won’t take much time tomorrow. I’d like you to look at the floors though. I’m not sure if the new boards stand out too much to just put the clear coat on, so I’d love your opinion.”

“About that,” Kim said, biting down the slight tremor of residual panic that rushed through her when she remembered the events of earlier in the evening, “Corporate doesn’t want our store open when we have bullet holes through the glass, so I’m off tomorrow. They’re sending someone out to fix it, so we should only be closed for one day, but I was already off this Saturday…”

“And you close on Sunday, so I get you for a full two and a half days.”

“Yep.”

“Want to come over?”

“Of course. I even had some things packed that I could leave in that extra drawer if it’s still available.”

“Definitely.”

They picked off each other’s plates when their meals arrived, as they had been wont to do when they had dated as teenagers. After they ate and paid the bill, Tommy drove them back to Kim’s apartment. Kim grabbed the bag she had already packed, adding another change of clothes since she’d be over a day longer than originally intended and they set off towards Tommy’s house.

__________

It was past 11PM when they finally parked in front of Tommy’s house. Kim stared out the windshield at the house where she knew a comfy bed awaited her, but she found herself too bone-weary to move all the same. Her door opened and Tommy was standing there, giving her a soft smile.

“Has the day finally hit you?”

“Like a freight train. Just give me a second; I need to build up the energy to move.”

Tommy smiled indulgently, leaning over to unbuckle her seatbelt, then grabbed her bag of clothing and toiletries from the back seat and her purse from the floor in front of her, slinging both over his forearm. He reached out a hand, which Kim took, and he guided her out of the Jeep, closing the door behind her.

Kim felt like she was barely moving, but eventually they made it inside the house, through the living room, and they stood at the base of the stairs. “I think I might just sit on the couch for a while,” Kim said. She realized that she didn’t have it in her to make it upstairs.

“Come here,” Tommy said, putting down her bags and his keys. Kim shuffled closer to him and he picked her up, carrying her bridal style up the stairs. Kim was too tired to protest, so she just let herself enjoy being carried in Tommy’s arms.

He desposited her at the foot of her side of the bed. “Give me a second and I’ll grab your bag for you.”

A minute later he was back, standing in front of her. He put her bags on the bed next to her, then bent over to kiss her lightly. “Get ready for bed and I’ll go lock up and make us something hot to drink. You can put your spare clothes in any of those drawers in the bureau- they’re all empty- or we can work on that tomorrow.”

“M’kay,” Kim agreed. Tommy pressed a lingering kiss to her forehead and left the room.

Kim gave herself a minute before she forced herself to get up. She opened her overnight bag and pulled out an oversized t-shirt and a pair of shorts that seemed the perfect level of comfy/frumpy for how she was feeling at the moment. She changed right there at the foot of the bed, not willing to expend too much extra energy. She rifled through the bag until she found the tube of toothpaste and the still-packaged new toothbrush she had brought to leave at Tommy’s and set them on her nightstand. She rezipped her bag and tossed it in the general vicinity of the bureau, then climbed back onto the bed and under the covers.

She could hear Tommy moving around downstairs. His kettle had started whistling and she could hear the sound of the mugs clinking together as he pulled them down, then the thud of the cabinet door as he closed it.

He was also humming. He was humming “Lovefool,” if she wasn’t mistaken, which made her giggle.

She could hear him coming up the stairs a minute later and he appeared with a mug of tea for each of them. “Raspberry zinger tea is the cure-all for everything according to my Great-grandma Ida. She always made it for me whenever I visited.”

“Mmm… she’s right. I started keeping a stockpile of this tea as soon as I moved to Florida.” Kim took the mug greedily, wrapping her palms and fingers around it for the warmth and comfort.

“Did you really?”

“Yeah. It reminded me of your family. Your mom would always make me some after dinner when she made your dad coffee.”

“I wonder if it should be funny to me that the legacy my family passes down from one generation to the next is a specific flavor of store-bought tea bags.”

“Really good store-bought tea bags,” Kim corrected.

__________

Tommy could see that Kim was beyond exhausted, so once he saw that her mug was empty, he encouraged her to go finish getting ready for bed. She trudged into the bathroom with her toothbrush and toothpaste, then trudged back to the bed a few minutes later.

“I need a nap,” Kim complained.

“I think it’s too late for a nap. How about you just go to sleep instead?” Kim flopped from her back to her side to her back again before settling down. “Is anything wrong other than just being tired?”

“Mhm,” Kim hummed non-committally with her eyelids starting to drop, but she reached out until he intertwined their fingers together.

“Goodnight, Beautiful.”

“Night.”

__________

Tommy wasn’t immediately sure of what woke him, but he quickly noticed slightly muffled little keening noises coming from Kim. She had rolled away from him and was curled into the fetal position with her back towards him.

“Kim?” He splayed his fingers along her side. She was shaking and her breaths were quick and shallow. He scooted closer to her until his chest was against her back and he could crane his neck over her to see her face, which was covered with tears. Her eyes were shut tight. “Kim? Are you awake?”

When she didn’t react or respond, Tommy wrapped his left arm around her waist so he could pull her back from the edge of the mattress. “Kim, you have to wake up, honey. You’re having a bad dream,” he cooed at her as he tried to comfort her. He alternated between lightly squeezing her upper arm and running his fingers through her hair until she stopped shaking and started to wake up. “Hey, Beautiful. You okay?”

“Had a nightmare.”

“Makes sense, after the day you just had. Is there anything I can do?

“Hugs,” she pleaded. Tommy gave her space so she could roll over then gathered her in his arms and tried to match the intensity at which Kim was hugging him.

“It’s okay, Kim. You’re going to be alright.” He kissed her forehead and hair and cheeks, just as he had earlier and alternated reassurances and kisses until she feel asleep again.

For the rest of the night Tommy only dozed. Kim slept fitfully.

__________

Tommy got out of bed when Kim’s alarm went off for her morning meds. It was later than he would normally be still abed, but he’d been unwilling to leave Kim who’d finally managed two straight hours of unencumbered sleep laying half on top of him with her head on his chest and her leg thrown over his hips.

Once the alarm had gone off and Kim had taken her meds, she moved to get out of bed too, but Tommy could see that she was still exhausted. “Stay in bed for a little while longer. You didn’t get much sleep. I can bring up breakfast. Is cereal okay?”

“Yeah,” she said. “I’ll get up after breakfast and we can work on the next room if you have paint.”

“I have paint for the master bathroom. It shouldn’t take too long since most of the wall is tile anyway.”

In the end, Tommy painted the bathroom himself and more or less ordered Kim to stay in bed after she complained of a bit of a headache and admitted to a sore back after he’d caught her trying to massage a spot just above her tailbone. “Yesterday was a lot. I’d think most people would be drained today just from the adrenaline crash alone. You spent three hours crouching in the stock room on top of that. Give yourself a day to rest.”

“You have me over to paint.”

“I have you over so I get to spend time with you.”

“And to paint. You only paint when I’m here.”

“And I’m still going to paint while you’re here. You’re just going to be in here, in bed, watching TV. Even with having to do my taping still, it should only take me an hour to get the first coat on and then I’ll come back and lay with you.”

“I feel like I should be doing something.”

“Kim, you are always busy. Please, just take a day to relax.”

Kim only relented after Tommy agreed that emptying her overnight bag into a drawer was allowed as part of her bedrest and he bribed her with more raspberry zinger tea.

__________

By mid-afternoon, Kim was feeling better and Tommy had finished the second coat of charcoal grey paint in the bathroom. “You and monochromatic bathrooms…” Kim teased.

“It just makes the most sense to me,” he defended. “I can have just about any color art-work or towels and they won’t look out of place.”

“Plus, you got your white and black in.”

“Don’t act like I’m the only one who clings to my colors. I’ve seen your apartment, Pinkie. And have you seen Jason’s place with all of the red and gold?”

“Okay, fair enough. And yeah, Jason’s place is a little…” She made a face that Tommy could only describe as a polite _eww_.

“Garish?” He offered.

“That’s an apt description.”

“I’d give him a pass and say that it’s hard to have those two colors and not automatically look garish, but I have green and red and am making that work, so I have to think he’s just not trying.”

__________

Without another room to paint (“We could work on the laundry room.” “I was planning on buying the color when I picked you up from work today.”), and no other projects immediately identifiable, Tommy suggested that they pick a movie to watch in the living room (“for a change of scenery”).

Kim couldn’t find it in herself to pay attention to the movie, though, because all that she could think about was kissing Tommy again. They’d shared a few kisses the night before and one that morning. But more had not been forthcoming.

_I spent **years** not kissing him,_ Kim scolded herself and tried to pretend that she was watching the screen in front of her and not Tommy’s profile in her peripheral. _He kisses me and suddenly I lose all of my self-control._ Kim promised herself that she wasn’t going to grab Tommy by the back of his neck and drag his lips down to hers.

And she was successful.

For all seven minutes after she made that promise.

Then Tommy had leaned into her to put the empty popcorn bowl on the side table, and well, that was that.

Once Tommy had sat back up, Kim had thrown caution to the wind, straddled Tommy’s lap, and kissed him long and hard until she felt his hands on her back and in her hair. Every time they pulled away from one another, it was only long enough to get in a quick breath and reposition before they dived back into each other again.

Vaguely, Kim could hear a fight scene playing out from the tv behind her as Tommy sucked her lower lip between his teeth and snaked his hand under the hem of her t-shirt. And that’s when she realized that she was still wearing the oversized shirt she had slept in. She broke away from Tommy’s mouth with a laugh.

“I’m sorry,” she said when he whined his displeasure at her pulling away. “I just realized I’m still in my pajamas.”

“Doesn’t matter to me,” he promised, but Kim could still feel her self-consciousness making itself known.

“You were watching the movie…”

“Not anymore. This is better.” Tommy nudged her forward again, and Kim willingly complied.

Because making out with Tommy was 100% Kim’s definition of a good time.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> You may all thank my fiancé for this amazingly quick update. I asked him if I should write or if I should read one of the three books I currently have out from the library. He said I should write, left me to my own devices for about three hours, and just occasionally came out to the living room to say motivating things like, "it's so hot to be dating an author." He's ridiculous and wonderful because I read him all my stories and he listens even though he never watched Power Rangers and has absolutely no idea who these characters are. 
> 
> So, this chapter is definitely dedicated to him, especially since on this date in one year, I'm marrying him.


	8. Lemon

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Tommy and Kim deal with a surprise intruder while they paint the laundry room.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter did not want to be written. That is all.

Kim shrieked and jumped up onto the top of the washer as Tommy came into the laundry room with the drill he needed to take down the wall cabinet. They needed to do that before they could paint then put up the new cabinet and open shelving he’d bought. “What was that again about _I can move the washer myself, thank you very much_?” Tommy tried not to laugh at the look of terror on Kim’s face. She pointed urgently toward the wall behind the partially pulled away appliance.

Tommy peeked over the machine, expecting to find a bunch of spiders or the long dead carcass of a mouse- both things he knew scared the crap out of Kim. Instead he found a rat, a very large rat, lazily making its way across the floor to a large hole in the wall.

“Since when do I have rats?” Tommy tried to keep his voice even, but he was contemplating jumping up on the dryer to join Kim out of the biting zone if the rat got any ideas to come after them.

“How did you not notice a rat this big? It must have eaten through half your pantry to get that fat!” Kim leaned over a little to get a better look and in doing so, upset the balance of her washer seat. While she righted herself immediately, the washer let out a little _bang_ of protest as it leveled itself again. The rat, scared by the loud noise, zipped around the edge of the washer toward the larger room… and Tommy. Tommy’s reflexes took over and he was suddenly standing on the dryer, hunched over, and rubbing his head which he’d smacked on the ceiling.

“Oh my god! Are you alright?” Kim asked as Tommy reached out for the door, swinging it shut to keep the rat from running off into the rest of the house. “Don’t keep it in here!”

“Would you rather find it later in the kitchen or our bedroom?” Tommy asked as he rubbed at his crown.

“Ugh. No. But what are we supposed to do with it in here with us?”

The rat was running around the center of the room squeaking angrily. Tommy knew that their best option was to get the thing outside. The door to the back yard was across from Kim, but the washer hadn’t been moved very far yet, so she was a little far from the door to the back yard. “Is there any way you can reach that door?”

“Not from up here. And don’t you even for a second suggest I get down and do it. I am not getting bit today. Imagine the diseases that thing’s probably carrying.”

“Well, it probably doesn’t have the plague, so I think you’d survive.”

“Plagues come out of like nowhere. I’m not going to be patient zero just because you’re too oblivious to notice a rat living in your house.”

“It might have just gotten in,” Tommy defended as he tried to think back to any signs that might point to the rat being a long-time resident.

“Do you see the number of droppings back there and how huge that hole is?” Kim shuddered.

“Please don’t get sick.”

“I make no promises.”

“Okay. So, you can’t reach the door, and neither can I. I’ll take suggestions.”

“Is there anything in these cabinets? Maybe we can trap it or something.” Kim stood gingerly up on the washer, putting her feet towards the edges so as to not stand on top of the washer door. She began opening the cabinets that Tommy had already emptied earlier in the day in preparation of painting.

“I took everything out already, before we went to pick up the paint.”

Kim huffed out some sound of discontent and reached to feel the top of the cabinet after abandoning search of the precleared insides. “Ooo… what’s this?”

“I’ve never put anything up there. Maybe the old owners forgot something.”

Kim was pushed up on her toes, trying to keep her balance while also trying to get a hold of whatever was pushed on top of the cabinet against the wall. “Ah. Got it! It’s-” Kim pulled her prize forward and was covered with clumpy dust that had gathered around it. “It’s a claw toy.” Kim sighed in disappointment.

Tommy considered it for a moment. “Do you think you could reach the door with that?”

“Well, I guess it wouldn’t hurt to try, but I’m not sure. This thing feels too flimsy to really grasp anything.”

“Worth a try,” Tommy agreed. “See if you can unlock the deadbolt.” It took ten minutes and both of their glasses-less eyes to use the claw to unlock the deadbolt on the door. Kim couldn’t seem to grab the knob with the claw and Tommy didn’t believe that the claw was too small to fit around the knob, so they both tried to carefully switch appliance perches with the other. Which is how Tommy ended up on the floor, terrifying the poor rat back to its hole in the wall.

Kim, now on top of the dryer was shouting, “we have to close it in! We have to close the hole!”

Tommy groaned from his spot on the floor as several more squeaks sounded from the direction of the rat hole. He was not trained to fight rats.

__________

With the rat temporarily in hiding, Tommy had ushered Kim out of the laundry room and stuffed the gap between the floor and door with towels, just in case the rat or its rat friends tried to limbo their way into the rest of the house. Kim had gone in search of the phone book to find an exterminator and Tommy was luckily able to get one to agree to come out same day.

“You had one dumb rat,” the exterminator told them only thirty minutes into his visit. “I went in, put down a trap, and he came right out. Went right to it.”

“Do you think there are more in there?” Kim asked, standing half a step behind Tommy and holding onto his arm as if afraid the exterminator was going to release a rat hoard on her.

“I don’t, but I’ve sprayed and put more traps out in case. This one looks like it might have been on its own and just found a way inside. With that hole closed up, you should be good to go, but I’d keep out of the room for the rest of the night. If you catch anymore, give me a call and we can look into it further.” He handed Tommy a business card and advised that he’d mail him an invoice.

With the man gone, Tommy turned to Kim and smiled wryly at her. “Well, unless we get up pretty early tomorrow, it looks like you get out of painting completely this weekend.”

“I think I can still help with the first coat in the morning. Anyway, you’ll need help taking down that cabinet.”

Tommy hummed in agreement. “Well, what should we do with the rest of our day?”

Kim made a puckered little face, then Tommy saw her cheeks turn just a little pink.

“What are you thinking?”

“Well, I was wondering…” Kim started before trailing off and looking over at him shyly.

“Hmm?”

“Well, it’s just that when we were younger, we never quite managed to make it through an entire movie in a theater.” She stopped again and Tommy raised an eyebrow at her to continue. “And, considering there’s no more Lord Zedd or Rita to interrupt…”

She stopped again and Tommy, seeing where this was going, prompted, “yes?”

Kim didn’t say anything for a moment, then in a rush, proposed, “would you like to go to the movies with me? On a date?”

Briefly, a memory of him asking Kim to a dance so many years ago and her teasing him and turning away as if she were going to refuse crossed his mind. But only briefly.

Tommy could feel the smile forming across his face. “Absolutely.”

__________

Tommy let Kim go upstairs to shower first since she was covered in over cabinet dust, then took his turn in the bathroom, needing to feel clean after having been so close to his little home intruder, before they headed into town to the movie theatre.

Kim felt like a teenager again, in the best way possible. She insisted, when they’d arrived at the theatre, that Tommy choose the movie since she’d asked him out. He’d picked a horror movie, much to her chagrin.

When they got into the theatre, Tommy led them to a back corner, and they’d made themselves comfortable and put up the arm rest between them so they could sit closer together. They’d made it easily through the previews as a few people trickled in.

Then the movie had started, and the theater had remained mostly empty. Kim murmured her surprise to Tommy at a theater so empty on a Saturday night. “It’s been out a while and the reviews have only been so-so,” he explained.

Kim found herself perplexed at his choice of movie. She wasn’t into horror (and she knew Tommy was fully aware of that), and, to her knowledge, Tommy wasn’t really all that interested in the genre either.

It took her a few minutes to understand his choice, but it finally clicked when there’d been a jump scare on screen and Kim had responded by burying her face into Tommy’s chest and pulling her legs up. He chuckled lowly and pulled her legs across his, so she was sitting perpendicular to the screen. It was then that she realized that Tommy had chosen this movie for the specific purpose of having her curled up against him like this.

Not that she minded.

Although, she’d have happily sat like this for any movie. He could have at least picked something good.

Resolved to avoid the movie as much as possible to avoid later nightmares, Kim had kept her face buried in Tommy’s chest, breathing in the comforting, familiar smell of his soap. A scream pierced the air from the speakers and Kim jumped again. Tommy’s fingers had found a bit of exposed skin below the edge of her shirt and he began rubbing soothing patterns into her skin.

Except that after a few minutes it was less comforting and more…

_Stop being horny, Kimberly,_ she berated herself.

Kim resolved to pull herself together and go back to watching (suffering through) the movie. She could make out with Tommy later. In a not public place. With this in mind, Kim tried to pull herself free of Tommy’s embrace, but he didn’t release her. She looked up at him to find that he was staring down at her with a wicked grin across his lips and not occupied by the movie as she thought he had been.

“Hmm?” She hummed the question lowly, not wanting to risk disturbing the other patrons, even seated far away as they were.

Tommy leaned a little forward, so his lips were beside her ear. “You know, Zedd seemed to have a particular problem with us going to the movies on dates,” he reminisced. He was right, Kim remembered that any time they’d so much as planned a date at the movies in advance, a monster would inevitably be released on the city.

But that still didn’t explain his looking at her like that. “I remember,” she whispered back. “So?”

“So.” Tommy’s fingers inched closer to Kim’s hip, and he ran his blunted fingernails across the bone, making Kim shiver. “So, we never got to be the teenagers making out in the back of the theater.” He pulled away just enough that Kim could see his face again and raised his eyebrow at her.

Kim took the offer happily and dove forward to start kissing him.

Eventually, a particularly brutal and bloody death by chainsaw on-screen and the screams and squelching sound effects that went with it pulled them apart from each other. They both glanced at the screen, Kim having to turn as she was chest to chest on Tommy’s lap again. It was not a pretty sight and Kim gagged a little at the grotesque scene.

“Okay, so maybe next time, not a horror movie,” Tommy said, looking similarly appalled. “Especially not one rated this badly.”

__________

“I miss archery,” Kim said as they sat at a traffic light on the way home. Tommy glanced over at her and saw that she was staring out her window towards a store with pre-used sports equipment. There was a compound bow displayed in the front window.

“You didn’t keep up with it? You were always so good at it.”

“I didn’t.” Kim sighed and turned back to front as the light changed and they sped away from the store. “I dropped it when I went all in on gymnastics. Once I was out of that, it would have been difficult to pick archery back up.”

“I don’t know about that; you were a natural. I think it would have come back to you without much effort.”

“You’re right, it probably would. It was more an issue of opportunity. With it being hard to get around, it’s hard to get anywhere where I could practice.”

Tommy frowned at her. “You say that a lot,” he accused.

“Say what?”

“That you don’t do something anymore because of the tumor.”

“I didn’t stop doing things because of the tumor. I just can’t do as many things because I can’t get around. I can’t drive.”

“We have a bus system. There are taxis. You could get a bicycle. So, not being able to drive is only so much of an excuse and is more convincing when you’re talking about getting to things out of town. I _know_ there are two ranges that can be used for archery within the city limits. You could probably walk to the one from your apartment. So, don’t act like you haven’t given up things that have nothing to do with being able to drive because of the tumor.”

“You’re being unreasonable.” Kim crossed her arms tight over her chest and stared straight ahead, not even glancing over at Tommy. He found that her staunch refusal to recognize the truth was getting under his skin.

“Am I? Am I really? Kim, you not only broke up with me, per your own admission, you gave up on romantic relationships altogether. You’ve cut off a bunch of your friendships. You’ve put most of your life on hold for this.”

“That’s not fair, Tommy. I went to college. I’m working as an interior designer, which I wanted to do for years, mind you. It wouldn’t have been fair to have a relationship with someone who I couldn’t tell about my time as a Ranger and who I couldn’t have kids with. As for you and our friends, I was trying to protect all of you. Knowing about this is hard. And when all of this started it was way harder.”

Tommy pulled off into a mostly empty Home Depot parking lot. He could hear the sniffles that Kim was attempting to hide with her ire. He took a deep breath to center himself, knowing that he needed to hold his point even as he wanted to apologize and comfort Kim. “Beautiful, look, I’m sorry if I upset you,” he started in a low, even voice, “but the fact is that you’ve deprived yourself of a lot of relationships and a lot of things you love because of this tumor. I know you’ve accomplished things, and I’m proud of you for that. But you still only do interior design part time when you are good enough to do it full time. You still have a tiny circle of support that you haven’t expanded past your childhood friends, family, and a few people at work. I want you to be able to have a full life and I feel like you’ve put your life on hold.”

“I’ve had to put my life on hold, this stops me…”

“No, it doesn’t and no, you don’t need to.” Tommy ran the pad of his thumb over Kim’s face to wipe away the tears slowly rolling down Kim’s cheek. “What if you can’t have the surgery and this tumor is with you forever? Are you going to put all the things you want to accomplish on hold forever? Are you going to forfeit your life and happiness in deference to a mass of cells that made themselves at home where they shouldn’t have?”

“How can I do anything else? Tommy, there are a lot of things I can’t do now because my tumor just won’t allow it. If I try to have kids, the hormones could throw me off and could cause me to have seizures again. As long as I’m at risk of seizures, I’m not allowed to drive…”

“But, if you want kids, what about adoption? Or surrogacy? Being in a relationship with me, or anyone else, for that matter, won’t make the tumor grow again. I know you can’t drive, but again, there are other options. Honestly, even if you couldn’t travel at all, I think you could do enough virtually or by phone with clients to build a business that supports you without having to work elsewhere. You just aren’t giving yourself the chance and I don’t understand why. You could be a small business owner working on your own terms. You could have a family. You could practice archery and have a large group of friends and have love and happiness just as much with that tumor as without it. So why won’t you let yourself have everything? Why are you holding yourself back?”

“Because I have to! God, I just always think how any day, the seizures could come back. Any day could be my last one. I have to do everything I can to make sure that when that happens, as few people as possible are affected by it!” Kim finally admitted in a yell. Her face was covered with tears and she was cowering away from Tommy in the seat beside him.

Tommy got out of the car and made his way over to her side, opening the door and sitting in the frame so he could get close to her. He pulled her into a hug and made shushing noises to calm her as he ran his fingers through her hair. “I know this is asking a lot, but please, please don’t live your life as if you are going to drop dead at any second. I understand taking precautions, but, as you’ve said, you haven’t had a seizure in several years. And your tumor should only stop you from doing things that are dangerous to you or others, like getting pregnant or driving. It shouldn’t stop you from doing archery, or playing guitar, or designing peoples’ living rooms. The fact of the matter is that death is an unfortunate part of life, and we never know when it might be coming for us. But we can’t, Kim, we can’t let some specter of inevitable death rule our lives, coloring everything we do.”

“Kim, I could die in a car accident tomorrow. Some random shotty electrical wiring I don’t know about could burn the house down around me as I slept. I could end up catching the flu from one of my students and end up with pneumonia and never recover, but I’m not going to hole up at home, shut off the electrical into my house, and seal myself in a hermetically sealed bubble.”

“Please don’t say that,” Kim begged quietly. “Please don’t list ways I could lose you.”

“You’re not going to lose me, Kim. And I’m not going to lose you either. You have to believe that. You have to trust that. You have to trust me, trust us. Life isn’t worth it stuck in a bubble forever. Pop it. Come outside.”

“I don’t know how. I don’t know how to be anything but scared.”

“I’ll help you.” He promised.

__________

Kim was quiet and subdued as they painted the next morning, which struck Tommy more than it normally would because of the loud cheerful lemon yellow they were rolling onto the walls. She didn’t sing along with the music, didn’t reminisce with Tommy about their younger years or friends, didn’t tell him about the intervening years apart or work or her design business…

But she didn’t seem angry, just sad, perhaps. 

“Quarter for your thoughts?” He asked to bring her back when she’d seemed to completely zone out.

“Isn’t it supposed to be a penny?”

“Seemed too cheap. You’ve been quiet. What’re you thinking about?”

“What you said last night. You’re right. I know you’re right, but I don’t like it.”

“I’m sorry that I upset you,” Tommy started to apologize again. He’d apologized for making her cry over and over into her hair the night before as they lay cuddled in bed, exchanging chaste kisses until they’d both fallen into restless sleeps.

“No. No, don’t be sorry. I’m not mad that _you_ were right, so much as I’m upset I let my tumor take over so much. Sometimes, it feels like I really have lost everything to the tumor, but other times, I don’t feel so different. I guess that lately, I haven’t felt like I’ve lost that much, having you back in my life. So, to be reminded how much I let it control was just a little jarring.”

Tommy held the roller out of the way so he could lean in and give Kim a one-armed hug and a kiss on her forehead. “I didn’t mean to put a damper on your happiness.”

“You didn’t.” Tommy raised his eyebrow at her, remembering her crying in the car the night before. “Fine. You didn’t long term or anything. I’m alright, I promise.” Kim pulled him down to kiss his cheek.

“So, have you just been mulling that over or…?”

“No,” Kim admitted. “I was imagining what it would have been like if I’d told you earlier. Not right when it happened- I wouldn’t have been able to handle that, but sooner.” She shrugged, looking away and continuing to paint. “I wonder how life would have been different with all of this good advice, all of these hard lessons you keep confronting me with, all of the happy moments.”

“I think we found each other again exactly when we were meant to,” He told her, not liking her ponderings he saw as morose.

“Yeah.” A ghost of a smile touched her lips, but it didn’t quite reach her eyes. “Maybe you’re right.”

“Something else is on your mind,” he prodded.

“It’s dumb.”

“I’ll be the judge of that. Tell me.”

The smile on Kim’s lips widened infinitesimally, but he saw it finally reach her eyes. Shyly, she said, “it was just something you said yesterday when we were in here. I don’t think you meant to say it.”

Tommy thought back but came up with nothing all that notable. “What did I say?”

“It was just… when you shut the door to keep the rat in here and asked me if I’d rather find it elsewhere in the house later…”

“Yeah,” he prompted.

“Well, you asked if I’d rather we find it later in, um… well, in _our_ room.”

“Oh,” Tommy said, surprised that she’d picked that up, and, to some lesser extent that he’d said it out loud. “Well, I guess I see it as our room,” he admitted. “Is that okay?”

“But it’s your room, Tommy. Your house.”

“Yeah, but you’re a part of this place now. You’ve helped me one way or another with nearly every room. You’ve put yourself into this place as much as I have. It feels like you belong here, like this is our house and not just mine. And I feel that with the bedroom twice as much. You have a side of the bed and your pillows smell like you when you’re at your apartment. You have a drawer now. You have a toothbrush on the bathroom counter and hair things in the vanity and body soap in the shower. It’s our room. Mine _and_ yours.”

When he looked back over at Kim, she was smiling as bright as the sunshiny walls around them.

__________

That afternoon, after he’d dropped Kim off at work, Tommy sat down at his kitchen table with the academic calendar for the new school year that he’d picked up at the high school, his handwritten lists of dates he should remember, and his phone with the calendar app open. He began writing birthdays, anniversaries, and important events into his much-neglected wall calendar. He jumped between colors- purple for birthdays, blue for anniversaries, red for work events and important dates. The last thing he added to the July calendar before moving on to August was in the box for July 26th. He wrote _K @ Hos_ in green, knowing it was enough to remind him of Kim’s appointment, but hoping that it was vague enough so his friends wouldn’t understand if they dropped in on him. He tapped the square to the left of her appointment with the back end of the pen as he stared critically down at the month, trying to see if there was anything he missed.

He paused in his tapping, a smile spreading across his face as a wonderful idea hit him. He picked up his phone, deciding that this shouldn’t be on the wall calendar which Kim might look at, and typed out an event that he called _surprise_ , adding it to the calendar in his phone.

“Might as well get started on it now.” Tommy left the pens and calendar on the table- he could finish writing out August and the rest of the year later. Grabbing his keys and wallet where he’d dropped them when he came in, he raced out to his car, hoping the store he needed didn’t close too early on Sundays.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Dedicated to my best friend, who I grew up re-enacting Power Rangers episodes in my backyard with. Happy Birthday, big brother, I miss jumping off my parent's couch pretending that we're skydiving with you. <3
> 
> Happy Thanksgiving, everyone! Be safe!


	9. Moss

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Kim goes topless and yells at teenagers, not concurrently.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I promise, guys, I am going to continue writing this story until it's finished. Especially because three of my favorite scenes I've thought up are still to come. I just make no promises on the regularity of my updates.

“Let me know when it’s okay for me to turn around.” Tommy stared dutifully at his closet door, back to the bed.

“Okay,” Kim said after a few moments. “I’m good.”

Kim was laying on the foot of his bed, topless and on her stomach. Tommy felt something warm inside him to see her staring across the room at him so trustingly in such a state. “Did your shower help your headache at all?”

“Not really.”

“Alright. I’ll start with your shoulders and neck then,” he decided, grabbing a bottle of body lotion that Kim had brought with her when she'd put her things in the bathroom earlier that month. He squirted some into his hand then rubbed both together to coat his palms before he set himself to working out the knots in Kim’s back. “So, all you told me on the phone was that work was rough and your bathroom is out of commission. Start from the beginning.”

Kim let out a pained groan. Tommy wasn’t sure if it was from the memories from the day or if he’d hit a particularly sore spot. She didn’t tell him to stop, though, so he kept up the massage. “Well, it was supposed to be me, Pat, and Angie working today since we had a shipment coming in. A costumer came in with a slushie and spilled but didn’t bother to let us know, so Pat ended up slipping on it while holding six wood stain gallon cans he was trying to shelf. He ended up with a concussion and had to go to the hospital. He called and said he’s fine, but he’s out the next two days, which he was scheduled to work, so I have to take the one tomorrow.”

Tommy hit a sore spot and Kim yelped. “Sorry, I’ll go easier there.”

“It’s okay. I’m more stress than human right now.” Tommy chuckled at her and she continued. “So, that was at like 9:30. We had way more people than usual coming through today, no idea why. Angie was at the desk almost the entire day. I ended up doing eighty percent of the unload and stocking. Every part of my body hurts.” She punctuated this statement with another pained groan as Tommy hit what he had to assume was another sore spot.

“I started walking home and like five minutes in, it just starts downpouring, which is why I looked like a slightly dried-out drowned rat when I got here. I got home and I just wanted to take a shower, eat something, and get in bed. But I open my door and hear water.”

“Oh no.”

“My upstairs neighbor’s pipes burst, and it was flooding my bathroom. So, I called maintenance and, to be fair, they showed up super quick. But I was still drying out and sore and then suddenly I had to move a bunch of stuff in my apartment further from the bathroom, so it won't get ruined by the water seeping into the carpet. I think I might have strained my back a little trying to push my bed closer to the wall.” Tommy added more lotion to his hands and moved lower down her bare back now that her shoulders seemed somewhat less tense.

“How long is it going to take to fix the pipes?”

“They went up and turned off the water upstairs and they said they could clean and dry the carpet and replace the pipes during the day tomorrow. Then they’ll re-drywall my ceiling, and I should be able to use everything again tomorrow night. But they’ll have to come in again to patch and paint. The office told me that they’ll give me a small discount on rent this month for the inconvenience, so that’s something. But I just wanted a shower, and I couldn’t have a shower, so that’s when I packed up a bag and called you.”

“I’m glad you did.” Tommy leaned down to place a kiss on the back of Kim’s shoulder, then smirked at the contented moan Kim let out as he ran the heel of his hands up and down Kim’s back. Now that he’d worked out most of the knots, he could feel Kim relaxing, finally. “Did you ever eat dinner?”

“No, I just wanted a shower.”

“Okay. Well, we’re going to have to fix that.”

“Hmm…”

“Or more accurately, _I’m_ going to have to fix that,” Tommy laughed to himself. He had to lean a bit to the side to catch a glimpse of Kim’s face, but her eyes were closed. She seemed to be dozing. Tommy started massaging the back of Kim’s legs as she’d complained when she arrived about them hurting as well. Plus, even if his hands were beginning to ache from the work, he was enjoying all of this. That Kim had called him for a place to stay instead of getting a hotel room, that she’d so readily shared her frustrations with him, that she’d so easily agreed when Tommy suggested a massage, and that she was so comfortable in his presence that she was on the precipice of falling asleep, wearing nothing but pajama shorts.

Tommy did a last pass up both legs, then her back, his hands finally resting on her shoulders as he leaned down and kissed the crown of Kim’s head. “Still awake?”

“Mmm-hmm.”

“Does that feel any better?”

“Loads.” She reached up, grasping and shortly squeezing his fingers resting on her shoulder. “Thanks, Handsome.”

“My pleasure. Would you like a blanket so you can nap while I get us dinner?”

“Mmm-hmm,” she agreed.

Tommy took the blanket from the chair next to the bookcase, shook it out, then draped it over Kim. “I’ll be back in a bit.”

__________

Tommy presented dinner on a tray with a flourish, much to Kim’s amusement.

“Wendy’s?” Kim had propped herself up with several pillows while Tommy had been out, finally feeling much more relaxed than she had when she’d arrived two hours before after her shower, massage, and short nap.

“I see you’ve found my t-shirts.”

Kim tugged at the shirt she’d put on and smiled sweetly at him. “It looks better on me.”

“Isn’t that the truth?” Tommy shook his head wear a wry smile. “And yes, Wendy’s. Shitty days call for French fries and a frosty.” He put two large orders of French fries down at the center of the tray for them to share and passed Kim a chocolate frosty. He pulled out two chicken sandwiches, passing her one of them, then a salad, “in case you want to be healthy or something.”

“Thank you,” Kim singsonged at him, already dunking fries in her drink. “Fries, a frosty, and a massage! How am I ever going to repay you?”

“I’ll take suggestions for the next room to paint. I’m sort of running out of fun rooms, which is making me drag my feet even more.”

“Your dining room turned conservatory is a fun room,” Kim disagreed.

“Ah, you might think that, but I need to refloor that room, not just paint it. I hate that there’s carpet in there. I mean, who puts carpet in a dining room anyway?”

“It was the style.” Kim shrugged.

“It was a dumb style.”

“I won’t argue against that. Maybe there are more hardwoods under it?”

“Nope, I already checked. Just the subfloor. I need to put in all new flooring.”

“Now I don’t understand your saying it’s not a fun room even more. You get to pick out flooring too!”

Tommy groaned. “Updating this house is exhausting. I feel like I have to think too much.”

“Poor Tommy.” Kim patted his chest mockingly.

“I’m serious. I just want the house to function and to look like something that I’d want to live in. Some of these rooms, and that one in particular, I just can’t figure out. Please help.”

“Well, since you said please…” Kim grinned, putting down her half-eaten chicken sandwich and switching back to fries. She felt more than a little pleased that Tommy was soliciting her opinion and assistance. “The first thing you need to decide is what functions that room is going to have.”

“I have my plants there.”

“It’s a decently large room. You should have something in there other than just your plants,” Kim prompted.

“Well, it was a dining room, but I don’t want to have a bunch of giant pieces in there. Dining sets are so clunky.”

“They don't have to be and you don't have to get a full set. What about an outdoor table and chairs? Maybe make it a breakfast room?” Kim said remembering how the light hit the windows in the morning.

Tommy shrugged noncommittally. “I guess I have trouble imagining what that would look like. I suppose I wouldn’t mind having a place to sit down in there and have a cup of coffee or something, and extra places for people to be able to sit when Rocky inevitably invades my house and call down a legion of Rangers on me again.”

“Okay, so greenhouse, sitting area that may or may not be a breakfast area, what else?”

“I mean, I mostly use it to get between the living room and kitchen since the foyer has so many doors, so I’d like that path to remain open. Other than that, the only other thing I’ve even thought of doing in there is maybe eventually making that where I put up my Christmas tree every year.”

“That would be nice. Like in front of the windows?”

“Yeah.”

“We’ll have to make sure to get you some comfy chairs for in there then if that’s where presents are going to happen. What color palette are you thinking?” Tommy smiled sheepishly at her. “Green again?”

“Well, most of the plants are green, so maybe not something too dark but if I’m trying to pull the outside in in any room, that’s the one.”

Kim stared up at the ceiling, praying both for inspiration and for some way of convincing this man that there were colors other than green in the world. “What if we put a green tile on the floor and painted the walls white?”

Tommy closed his eyes and frowned for a few moments before opening his eyes back up and saying, “I’m sorry. I’m having trouble picturing this room as anything but the mess it currently is. I know it’s a lot to ask, but could I convince you to help me with this room? I’m out of inspiration for it.”

Kim smiled brightly at him and leaned in. Tommy mirrored her and she gave him a quick kiss. “It’s a good thing you’re dating an interior designer.”

__________

“We’ll make it there in plenty of time. We should at least go through a drive through for coffee.” Tommy yawned. They’d both struggled to wake up so early in the morning and had therefore been unable to make coffee or eat breakfast before they left to take Kim to work.

“Angelo’s Bagels has breakfast sandwiches too.”

“That sounds good.” Tommy turned into the parking lot and let Kim run inside for food and coffee. In just minutes, she was sliding back into the passenger’s seat of his white pickup truck and Tommy pulled back out into traffic towards downtown.

“So, uh, my parents called on Monday night.” Tommy said, remembering that he'd been tasked with inviting Kim to dinner with his parents. He didn't think much of it; Kim and his parents had always gotten along so well. 

And yet, out of the corner of his eye, he could see how Kim's whole body frozen and how she began worrying her lip with her teeth. “Oh?”

“It’s nothing bad,” Tommy assured her, quickly hastening to add, “my mom wanted to know if we’d meet them for dinner one night. Every couple of months we pick a restaurant halfway in between us to eat at. Dad suggested this hibachi place in Sarton, which is a little over an hour from here. They requested that you come too. They’d like to see you again, if you’re okay with it.”

“I don’t want to impose on your time with your parents."

“It’s not imposing when you’re invited. I’d like you to come,” he insisted, knowing that his parents were genuinely excited to see her. Plus, an entire two hours of just being in car with Kim sounded awesome to him. 

“If you’re sure?” Tommy nodded next to her. “As long as I can make it work with my work schedule…”

“Well, I’m off for the summer, dad retired two years ago, and mom only works mornings, so we can make whatever time you have off work.” He grabbed her left hand, pulling it across the car to him and kissed the back of her knuckles. “Let me know what your schedule looks like and we’ll make something work, okay?”

__________

Kim idly sketched possible floor patterns for Tommy’s dining room/conservatory as the minutes of her shift sluggishly ticked by. The store was dead and had been for hours. Stormy days like these often induced a few people to bow to one home improvement project or another that they had been putting off. Rainy days generally meant busy days for Kim and her coworkers.

And yet, Kim had only had a half dozen customers, the last one leaving almost an hour ago. With the store manager, the only other employee in the building, back in the office doing paperwork, Kim was left to her own devices. And thoughts.

Kim spread the pattern sketches on the counter before her. She tried determinedly not to work herself into a fuss over Tommy’s parents wanting to have dinner as she dismissed both staggered square tiles and staggered rectangle tiles for the room as being too uninteresting.

But with no work or conversation to distract her, Kim was so easily pulled into her musings. _I should just talk myself through it,_ she told herself, also rejecting the aligned square tile pattern she’d drawn.

_They liked me when Tommy and I first dated,_ she reassured herself. _Before I broke his heart,_ her self-doubt added. _Tommy said his mom was upset for me when he told her about the tumor. But, of course, what type of decent person wouldn’t at least conjure up some semblance of empathy when they hear something like that?_

Kim considered a pattern of staggered rectangular tiles that she’d drawn at a 45° angle to the wall. It wasn’t as boring as the other patterns that she’d discarded, but she wasn’t sure if it was really what she was going for. She created a pile to the left to review later, dropping that there as an option for further consideration. _I don’t want them to hate me,_ Kim admitted to herself. _It would kill me if they hated me. There were there for me way more than my parents when I was in high school. I ate dinner there so many nights._

_Maybe if they don’t like me, they’ll be nice anyway, for Tommy._ A sketch of square tiles turned on their points to make a diamond pattern was added to the further consideration pile while a mix of rectangular and square tiles drawn into an overly intricate pattern was added to the rejects. _And maybe I can win back some goodwill from them with everything with the house._

_But if it doesn’t, if what I did to Tommy is just too much for them to forgive, where will that leave Tommy and I? Will they try to talk him out of dating me?_ Kim could feel her throat getting tight and bit back the panic she was working herself into. She resolutely looked at the last drawing- thinner, longer tiles arranged into a herringbone pattern. It was complicated. There were a lot of cuts to make and everything had to be lined up just so. But if she was going to convince Tommy to go with pure white walls, that pattern would bring the flair the rest of the room would be otherwise lacking.

Kim gathered up the rejected drawings first, stuffing the loose pages between the last page and the back cover of her drawing pad. She took the two runners-up and put them off to the side with the herringbone design on top. It would be good to have the other two designs as another option to show Tommy if he didn’t like the herringbone or if she couldn’t find the right tiles to create it. _Tommy promised he’d be with me from here on out. I have to trust that. And if his parents have a problem with that, he’ll convince them. I’m probably worrying myself over nothing. Come on, Kim. Tommy said his parents were excited that we found each other again, he wouldn't lie to me._

Still a little nervous that she’d be meeting Tommy’s parents again soon, and knowing that the store manager was in the back making the shift schedule that would reveal what evenings were open for her only made the butterflies in her stomach bigger, Kim tried to put it all aside and threw herself into designing this room for Tommy.

By the end of her shift, Kim had sketched the room out with a herringbone floor she imagined in a darker green tile, walls with thick intricate molding which she planned to paint all one color, a rectangular metal table with four matching chairs topped with cushions along the long ends and a wicker chair anchoring each end. She drew out and extended ledge under the windows for the plants and drew a few in simple pots. Finally, unable to resist, she drew a grand Christmas tree right in front of the windows.

Kim waiting anxiously for the end of her shift so she could get home and get some color on the page to really bring it to life.

__________

Tommy decided to remain downtown for the day. He’d brought the syllabus for one of his classes and the notes he’d made the previous school year so he could amend it. He took occasional breaks to chat with Hayley or a few of his students that felt comfortable enough coming up to say hello, but for the most part decided to grind away that day at the task at hand. The new school year would be upon him quicker than he would like, especially with all of the other things going on in his life. Kim had been right when they were painting his office that he should really get this all done sooner rather than later.

The wind and rain had both picked up steadily through the day. By time the end of Kim’s shift was coming around, the storm hadn’t died down, as Tommy and the weatherman had feared. That worry had been why he’d decided to stay in town that day instead of driving back home. He knew that Kim rarely if ever caved to taking a taxi home and he’d rather not have her walking a mile in this rain.

Pleased with his progress- he’d organized and skimmed his notes for the lesson plans he’d gotten through the previous year, drawn himself out a timeline of how long each section should take, then had penciled all that into the schedule on his syllabus, adding in test days at the end of each section; Tommy packed up his papers and hurried out with quick goodbyes so he could catch Kim before she plunged into the storm.

“Want a ride?” Tommy called out his window as he rolled it down and pulled into one of the spots in front of the store. Kim had been standing on the sidewalk under the shallow overhang looking forlornly up at the sky. He could see that she’d shoved something flat and rectangular under her shirt to try to keep it dry. She smiled at him looking relieved and ran to the passenger side, yanking the door open and throwing herself in as he cranked the handle to bring his window back up. Her hair and the back of her shirt were both soaked even after so brief an encounter with the rain.

“Am I glad to see you.” She pulled a pad of artist’s drawing paper out from under her shirt and flipped through the pages, he assumed to check that they’d not gotten wet.

“Aren’t you always glad to see me?” He thought of pouting, but the question had come out more flirtatiously than he’d intended. Anyway, Kim was grinning at him and he didn’t think he could pull off a pout when she was grinning like that.

She hummed non-committaly and Tommy gasped in mock-shock, catching Kim’s smile, now turned a little devious, out of the corner of his eye.

“I’m surprised you showed up. I figured you’d be at home.”

“I decided that I needed to get some planning for the school year done, and, let’s be honest, with everything that still needs to get done at the house, I’m too distracted to get any actual work done. So, I decided to work at Hayley’s today.”

“Working with easy access to fresh coffee,” Kim agreed gravely. “Smart.”

“I do have a Ph.D. How was work?” He asked, reveling in just how simply domestic this conversation was.

“Slow. But, uh…” Tommy noticed that the pitch of Kim’s voice climbed just a little in nervousness. “I was able to spend some time working on a design for your conservatory.”

“Is that what we’re calling it?” Tommy joked, hoping to relax Kim. “I was just calling it the plant room.” With his eyes on the road, Tommy couldn’t see Kim roll her eyes, but he was sure that she did all the same. “Will you show me what you’ve come up with?”

“Well, I’d have to, considering that you’d have to approve the design before we could put it into the room.”

“Yeah, but can I see what you’ve got now?”

“Not while you’re driving.”

“Kim, you know what I mean.”

He felt her hand over his right wrist. She gave a little squeeze and he let go of the wheel with that hand so he could rest their joint hands in the space between their seats. “I don’t have it colored in yet, so it’s not really finished.”

“But can I see what you have so far? I’m curious about your process.”

“I suppose, but I usually have the initial design completed and samples picked out.”

“Kim, it’s just me,” he reminded her, pulling her hand up to press a kiss against her knuckles as he waited for traffic to clear so he could make the left turn into her apartment complex’s parking lot. “You’re designs are great, thus my trying to emulate them in the rooms I’ve already put together. Plus, you know me better than anyone; I have no doubt that you’ll put together something I love.”

“So, you’re telling me that I can just design something and put it in the room without your prior go ahead and you’ll just like it anyway?”

“Yes,” he agreed, parking in a spot and turning off the truck. He turned in his seat to face her. “But I’d still really like to see the design. It might make me more excited about tackling the plant room.”

“Conservatory,” she corrected.

“Conservatory,” he agreed.

__________

Hell had no fury like a Pink Ranger pissed off, especially if that Pink Ranger was Kimberly Hart, apparently.

Tommy stood just inside the kitchen, outside of the line of fire, and sipped at a cup of lukewarm coffee as he watched Kim unbraid his former Blue and White Rangers. Both boys stood with paint brushes still in hand, looking to Connor for help. He noticed that they didn’t look askance at Kira, who looked equally annoyed.

It was Thursday afternoon and Kim had managed to conscript all four of the youngest recently retired Rangers into helping her finish up the conservatory, which he had primed and they both had painted the day before. Tommy had not been included in today’s remodel as Kim had demanded that he work on getting ready for next school year’s classes. He really was behind.

And he’d agreed, of course, because as much as he liked the herringbone design of the floor that Kim had come up with, he did not want to have to lay it.

Kira caught sight of him in the kitchen and joined him, pouring herself a cup of coffee from the pot. “What happened?” Tommy asked quietly, not wanting to interrupt Kim’s tirade and make himself her new target.

“I’m not sure, I was outside cutting tile and Connor came and got me. Should we intervene?”

“Definitely not.”

“Isn’t Kim supposed to be the nice one?”

“Trini’s the nice one,” Tommy said with a smirk. “Kim is the one everyone else can underestimate at their own peril, as it seems our teammates did.”

Kim had apparently put the fear of God into the two teens as she, in clipped tones, directed that Trent was to finish with the molding and Ethan would now be assisting Connor and Kira with whatever they required. Both boys, duly chastised, quickly agreed and scurried out of Kim’s proximity.

Kira and Connor also made themselves scarce, going back to whatever duties Kim had assigned them. Tommy put down his coffee mug before going to Kim.

“Everything okay, Beautiful?”

“I couldn’t have given simpler directions and the two of them just wouldn’t listen,” Kim griped. Her whole body was tense. Tommy pulled her to him and kissed her long and deep until he felt her start to relax.

“Teenagers,” complained in commiseration, making Kim laugh.

__________

In the end, Tommy did end up helping lay tile. While it had begun on Thursday, the floor was only half finished by time everyone else went home, so he Kira and Trent had worked on the floor on Friday to finish it. On Saturday, Connor had come by and they’d put up the baseboards and built the spindly metal table and chairs Kim had chosen.

On Sunday, after he’d brought Kim over to the house and she’d finished adding cushions while he’d put his plants on their new stands, and after they’d eaten dinner, Tommy admired the newly completed room. The walls were white with somewhat over the top molding painted the same shade. The floor, which had been an absolute pain to put in, looked amazing in the space. Kim had picked lighter shades of green for the cushions on the bronze colored metal chairs, which matched the table. The same shade of green was used for valances over the windows and the cushions on the wicker chairs. The wicker chairs themselves matched the stain on the wooden picture frames on the wall and the windowsills.

Kim’s arms wrapped around his middle. “So?” Her voice was a cross between worry and anticipation. “What do you think?”

“It’s even better than I thought it would be.” He turned to face her, wrapping his arms around her and drawing her in. “It’s perfect.”

Kim’s arms wrapped around his waist from behind. "For the next room, can you pick some other color than green?" 


End file.
